Silent Ponyville Homesins
by Stardust Breeze
Summary: A Nightmare that keeps you awake and a misterious Ocarina helping you in your way, can a Colt forget his own past and move forward?, or the shadows of his sins will erase him permamently?
1. Chapter 1 - Nightmares of the Past -

Under the sound of the falling Rain, in the middle of Canterlot residential Area, a Young Colt, with mane as black as the silent night, was struggling to get sleep this time… his name was Stormy Brave, a young Luna Guard… but very different from the others, meanwhile most of the Princess Luna's Guards are colts with bat type like wings, he is one of the few unicorns in service. But right now, the least thing he want to do is to remember his job, several boxes of mint tea and chocolate milk where scatter on the floor, his face showed a very tired look, even his teammates give him the day off because of his state… he stared at the mirror in his apartment bathroom, his usual white coat color was starting to get dirty… as he stepped in the shower, he continue to think, think and think, he could not get the nightmare out of his head

"It has been 4 months now… since those nightmare started… "

He ended his shower quickly and get himself to bed again… with his magic he pulled his sheet to protect himself from the cold tears his bed already have from his crying, he slept in quickly, but then again, his dream turned into a nightmare, one he wish he could forget but it was burned into his mind.

He was in the middle of a snowy field, surrounded for several houses in state of decay, but the strangest of things was, the street had a bloody trail he stood with more attention to the state of the houses, it was Manehatten, his birth place, but what his eyes took more attention to, was a saddle bag on the floor right in the middle of the street, ending the blood trail.

"a saddle bag?...suddenly it fells familiar, but where? "

He levitated the saddle bag, and notices a cutie mark design, a pair of gears with a wrench in them, he decided to carry it with him, after his hooves started to move more into the streets of New Orange, he noticed that there was nopony on the streets, as if the city was deserted, he continue to walk, but after a short while…his hooves stepped into something soft but cold, he was unwilling to look down, but he had no control over this nightmare, he looked down… and saw that his hooves where covered in blood!, his hooves was touching a corpse, as he looked up again, the streets where changed to metal ornaments, the already decayed houses had bloodstains and some of them corpses of ponys trapped inside in a cage, he never felt so much terror In his life before, so he started to run as quickly as his hooves took him.

But the nightmare again changed, he could see himself after that, holding a little colt at sword point, his magic was ready to took the young filly life, he wanted to stop!, he wanted to scream as loud as his lungs where capable of, but the sword move downward to the unknown colt, ending his life and splashing him of a innocent blood, the blood touched his hooves that slowly where melting away, he screamed as loud as he could, but nopony could hear him, he tried to move but he was glued to the ground, as he melted away. He closed his eyes waiting for this torture to be over, again, things changed, this time it was in a different room, Moon designs where in the halls, also Sun designs where present… but he do not wanted to see what will happen, his eyes still open, and saw his teammates slaughter… he looked down, again to his hooves… and all he could see was a blood stained sword, he put his hooves on his head, trying to wake up

"Please!, stop!, don't do this!, for the love of Celestia just stop! "

But those words where not heard, he saw a alicorn moving, and as if it where an automatic reaction, his hooves took him closer to the alicorn, his right hoof lifted and the bloodstained sword did it with it, the alicorn looked scared, her dark sapphire blue coat was already red from multiple injuries and her cobalt blue mane was turning into red, as she was losing blood from her chest… he could not believe what he was about to do, as his hoof that held the sword started to quickly run downwards to the alicorn neck, a large and painful to hear cut was heard, the red blood started that emerged from the now dead alicorn, formed a puddle where he could see his reflection, but when he stared into it… all he could see was a monster, with fangs and flesh starting to fall from his bones, and a sick smile on his face, like he enjoyed taking others ponys lives…

his dream usually ends after that, and this time, was no exception, morning rose in the sky, as his nightmare ended for the time being, he open his eyes and noticed his pillow soaked in tears, he could not resist to stare at his hooves, he could still feel the blood scurrying from them, he touched his eyes… they still wet, he could no longer bear this nightmares, he tried to not play videogames for a while, it didn't help, he also tried relaxing his mind with mint tea, it worked… only for a day thought…

He had enough he need help!, he said to himself, but who he could tell this horrible nightmares about murdering?, if he told his teammates, they will not believe him, he couldn't ask Shinning Armor either, was on royal duty in Princess Cadance kingdom. He decided to visit a specific pink pony he had not seen in a while, but first, he had to make a trip to Canterlot Royal Castle.

He got ready, and equips himself with his family sword and his raincoat, he used a spell in the Raincoat pocket's that could make him carry many things at once, but he also added something else to his pockets, a ocarina, is a family memento and a good luck charm for him, as he was ready, he moved to the Royal Castle.

The way to the castle was easy, he lived 2 blocks away from the main entrance, some sun guards saw him enter, but didn't ask him about his recent vacations, he needed to talk with a certain pony, after a long travel in the castle hallways he reached Princess Celestia and Luna Throne Room, he requested a private talk with the princesses, which to his surprise they accepted, well at least Celestia did, since Luna is asleep during the day, he stepped further in, being presented by his teammate and friend Noirstar, a unicorn solar guard.

"Presenting Stormy Brave, Lunar Guard Nº562 "Said the guard

"Thanks Noirstar… I appreciate it "replied Stormy

"Stormy Brave "said Celestia in her usual kind tone, looking at him "I was informed that you have been unable to perform your duties as one of my sister guards, is there something that troubles you? "

"Actually "he hesitated for a moment, but found the strength to speak " I do princess, I have been having problems sleeping, I know, as Lunar guard I have to be awake at night, but I haven't been able to sleep at all, neither in the day or in the night, I request a time off " replied Stormy with some regret

"Time off? You mean, are you quitting the Lunar Guards? "Said the Princess, with a rather surprised look on her face

"Yes, at least until I find a cure for this problem, I can no longer be a Lunar guard" replied Stormy, knowing that quitting his job was a bad idea, since that was his only income.

"Stormy… I would appreciate if you tell me what is happening "the Princess asked for a answer, looking at Stormy face, he was about to burst in tears.

"I been having Nightmares princess, and not very pretty ones, every time I close my eyes, is the same nightmare all over again, with some minor changes" Stormy said the truth, he needed somepony to talk to, and right now he is talking with the princess, seemed like a better option at this point

"Nightmares you said?" her tone of voice suddenly changed, as if she knew something "can you please be more specific?"

"you won't believe me if I tell you princess" Stormy hid the details, he do not want to reveal much, that could get him into problems, in a instant, the flashback of him killing the alicorn took his mind, he shaking his head trying to forget that kind of memories.

"I understand Stormy, I will grant you the time off you need, I wish you the best of luck, but where are you going if I may ask?" said Celestia, still a little concerned

"Im going to Ponyville, there is a friend of mine I want to visit, is a Pink pony with a balloons cutie mark" he replied

"You mean Pinkie Pie?, you know her?" Celestia reacted a little surprised by hearing that Stormy knew the Element of Laughter, he was know for being always alone

"yes " he admit it " she is like a big sis to me, I need to talk to her, so Im going to Ponyville to talk to her"

"I see, if that is the case, why don't we do something Stormy? " Celestia smiled like she had something prepared

"What do you mean your Highness?" Stormy was a little confused by Celestia reaction

"I will ask Pinkie pie to come here to Canterlot" said the princess

"Really!?, that's great!, I can talk her about –" he was interrupted by the princess, she wasn't finished yet

"Under one condition though "Celestia looked rather serious about this, Stormy saw coming, but he don't have much of a choice right know

"A condition?, ok your highness, name it" he replied

"Let me look at your nightmares, I must know what is going on so I can call her" she asked

Oh for Pete sake!, Stormy thought to himself, he did not wanted for anypony to see those nightmares, specially Celestia, but he had no choice, he accepted, Celestia then walked to a different room, and ask stormy to follow her, he follow her to a hallway, with several columns as if they where getting to a special room, as Celestia entered the mentioned place, the lights turned on, Celestia was sitting in the middle, Stormy had no idea where she was going with this, but if this was one of the ways he could talk with Pinkie, he will do it.

"Stormy, sit here please" she asked politely

"Ok princess "said him as he sat down on the ground "what are we going to do?" he asked to the princess

"You, nothing, as for myself I will look into your mind, seeing what kind of nightmares you are getting" She said as she started to prepare her spell

"Promise something princess please" Stormy started to look Scared

"What is it Stormy?" She ask

"Don't tell anypony besides Pinkie Pie, please" he look rather serious asking this, Celestia has never saw one of the guards in all the palace near a point of breakdown, she he had to investigate further

"I promise Stormy Brave, know relax, I must know this so I can determine if Pinkie Pie presence is required." She promised as she touched Stormy forehead with her horn

Celestia was crossing across some things she was surprised, she saw a specific nightmare where stormy is being devoured by a strange pony with a iron mask, his eyes started to look filled with tears as she saw stormy being torn apart by the Iron Mask pony, he was using stormy own sword to rip his flesh from his bones, Stormy screamed as loud as his lungs where still able to expel air, the Iron Pony continue to stab him constantly until his lungs filled with his own blood, making Stormy cough blood, The Iron Pony took his mask up, enough to discover his mouth, blood soaked fangs bit Stormy open torso ripping his intestines out, Celestia nearly throw up from this scene, but the things didn't end there, a small corpse of a pony rose next to the Iron Pony, ready to finish stormy Life, Celestia could no longer see anymore of this nightmare and cut the spell short, returning to reality, this was something that a simple Laughter of Pinkie won't fix, she stood in front of Stormy, as for him however, he was as bad as when the spell started, or worse. He also stand up, his eyes where wet, from tears, he saw that Nightmare being awake, and felt all the pain

"Stormy, I don't think a simple visit from Pinkie Pie will be enough" her tone was more serious than ever

"Princess, what do you mean?" he feared that the Princess will not bring the help need it

"I will call my fateful student and Pinkie pie as promised, but you will have to wait a day at most" she replied, with a sad look on her face

"Princess I…" he hesitated, this could no longer wait a day! He needed Pinkie Pie help, so Stormy asked Celestia for a one specific thing, "If that is the case princess, may I ask them to bring them here today?, is still early, this can't wait a day"

Stormy needed Pinkie's help, from his memory serves him, she always made him smile, and right know he need a familiar face, Celestia accepted, but she requested for Stormy to remain in that room until she bring them, he accepted and waited there, the door closed and he started to think, in forgetting those nightmares, he do not wanted them anymore, why would he be having those dreams in the first place?, he is a Lunar guard, but a Lunar guard should not be having murderer dreams do they?.

He thought of what could be causing them, the recent fight with the changelings could not be the reason, as a guard he was more that used to the fights, drinking chocolate milk before sleep?, no, that's not it either, playing to much video games in his spare time?, come on, is video games, unless you eat cupcakes each loading screen, but whatever reason was the cause of the dreams, he had to put them a end, since Celestia had left him alone, he think of doing a little ocarina playing to relax his head a while, he took his ocarina out of his pocket and played a song, why in the hay he didn't use it before?, perhaps because it was a family memento?, either way he played a magical song, usually it doesn't affect the user, but this time, it worked, Stormy started to fell relaxed and slowly he has falling asleep.

When he woke up though, he was no longer in Canterlot, he was in some kind of hospital being restrained in a table ready to be operated, his raincoat was nowhere to be seeing, a pony he do not recognized was about to operate him and he was much than awake!, he could fell the scalpel ripping his coat, and flesh, he screamed but and assistant put his hoofs on his mouth to prevent him from screaming, he was thinking this was another nightmare, but this one must be new, since he don't remember that kind of place, neither the pain that felt so real as the doctor was trying to make the opening in his chest more bigger

"Mmmhpphph!" Stormy tried to scream, begin them to stop, he could not use his magic from the fear

"Doctor, the victim is still fighting" Said the Assistant holding Stormy mouth

"Then we should proceed my friend, bring The Helmet" The Main Doctor asked to his assistant

Stormy mind quickly process where he was, he was in a mental hospital, but he don't remember one in Canterlot, or Ponyville, he do not wanted to remain there, so he started to struggle harder, the assistant let go of Stormy to bring "The Helmet "whatever that thing is, he don't want it near him!, as the assistant left the room, everything froze, he could hear screams coming from outside the Surgery room, the Main Doctor rushed to check, leaving Stormy unattended, he saw a silhouette in the window of the door, of somepony being stabbed with a big knife, and that silhouette was coming to the Surgery Room, with the Doctors away, he calm himself a bit, to allow him his magic usage, the girdles that bounded him to the table moved surrounded in a white magical aura, as they where loose enough to take his hooves out, he jumped from the table and looked around him, there was something he could use to defend himself

"in this cases I wish I had something, like a Party Cannon of a Muffing Bazooka " he said to himself

As he searched the room, he found a rather rusty pipe, what was a Pipe doing in the middle of a Hospital?

Either way he picked it up, the silhouette of the pony holding the big knife was just standing in the door, he put himself behind the stretcher, and pushed with all his remaining strength, forgetting about the pain for a second, using it as a moving shield, when he opened the door with it, the silhouette where nowhere to be seen, and he only manage to get himself hurt when the stretcher impacted the wall, he rose back to his hooves, a little puzzled about where did the doctors went, he still have his cut in his chest, he touched with his hoof, the pain was very real to be a dream, he felt like thousands of electrical shocks racing in his spine to his brain.

"Auch, this is not a normal nightmare, what in the hay is going on?" he tried to find a logical explanation to this.

He opened the Door which lead to the hospital hallway… his breathing made the surgery cut to spit a little amount of blood, he found a bandage on a table in the hallway, his mind told him that could be a trap, but he was without his Black raincoat, so there was no other option, he picked up the bandage and wrap it around his chest and torso with his magic, covering his open wound, he tight it up a bit, to make it close, but still the pain was there, as he continued walking in the hallway, he opened a door leading to the Examination room, there he found the Doctor Assistant, or at least half of his body, his stomach could not take it, and he puked in a near janitor bucket, what could be causing this?, and the worse yet, why he wasn't wake up?, he notices the room he was in, the Examination Room had some files about patients with traumas and some of them in need of medical assistance due to multiple bone fractures, but he notices a weird pattern in a nearby door that picked his interest, it had a message, it reads:

"Swim in your Past Sins? , what kind of message is this?" he said as he read the message

The Door was locked, he tried a unlock spell on the door, but it won't budge a bit, the doorknob was protected from magic it seems, he needed a key to open that door, he approached the assistant corpse, with some disgust in his face, he searched in his body for the key, but all he could find was a map from the hospital, and a scalpel, he don't have something to store the items so he decided to keep them levitated in the air, 2 doors of the examination room where busted, the doorknob felt to the floor as soon as Stormy placed a hoof in them, he was not going to get anywhere from there, he turned back to the hallway that leaded to the Surgery Room, there was some rooms he didn't check, he tried every door, but only one was working, they where some automatic doors that lead to the patients rooms, there was nothing in most rooms, just beds in terrible shape, and some of them had corpses in them, he checked a room under the number 402, as he enter the room, he notices that was the only room in the hospital with clean bed and sheets, but something stood in the table next to the bed, a saddle bag with Stormy cutie mark in it, he approached to it, and levitated in the air with his magic… he inspected the saddlebags to find a couple of things inside, a thing called " energy drink " and his ocarina, but mainly, there was a Key in the bag, he put the saddle bags on him back and put the scalpel and the map inside of them, but just as he exited that room, some loud noise came from room 405, 3 room next to the one he was, his curiosity made him check, the door was open, he entered the room, it was a little dark, so he used a light spell to illuminate the area like a lantern with his horn, he notices some bottles on the floor broken nothing unusual... that is until… a hoof placed on his head, he instantly moved back holding the pipe with his magic, he could use 2 spells at the same time, he checked the room and what he found almost made him lose concentration of his spells, there was a pony… or rather pony kind creature stuck on the walls, slowly crawling to Stormy position, only one hoof was attached to his body, and the eyes where missing, its hind legs where missing and he let a blood train from his open wound on his hip, he leaped from the wall opening his mouth to bite Stormy, he nearly dodge the creature, the creature seems to leap with it's only hoof, he never saw that kind of creature, the creature leaped again when it's ears caught the noise Stormy made with his plot touching the walls, he was not able to dodge this time, but he put the pipe in the middle of the creature and his neck, using his magic, he held the pipe surrounded in magical aura, as the creature tried to pass the pipe placed on its neck to bite Stormy flesh out of his bones, he pushed further, Stormy increased his magic to make the pipe push the creature back, making it fall over, Stormy then attack with the pipe the strange creature, the creature felt the pain but it was bending over to jump again, Stormy did not hesitated and attacked further, making the creature lost its balance, It took several hits to knocked it out… he did not wanted to kill it… but the creature again tried to stand up and charge another jump, this type it succeeded in thrusting it's fang on Stormy left hind hoof, Stormy screamed in pain as he felt how the cold teeth of the creature injured him, trying to rip his flesh from him, he took the pipe one more time and hit the creature with all his strength, the creature stopped moving this time, as the blow was given directly on it's skull, dark red blood flowed from it's mouth… this time… it was dead

"i…I kill it?..." Stormy grip of his magic loose and the pipe felt to the ground, also his light magic turned off, he was still in shock " I took a life… but…it was me or him… but why do I feel so bad about this?"

Stormy took a minute to breathe and recover himself from the impression, in all his time as Lunar Guard, he never had to took a life, only injure enemies, but never killing them.. this was his first time killing a living thing… his mind recovered quickly and he picked up his rusty pipe again and exited the room, returning to the hallway, the key that he found could be the one for the examination room?, only one way to find out, he returned to the Examination Room, and found the door locked, he placed the key in the keyhole, a click was heard, the door opened with the key, a little hesitated Stormy moved forward to what it seems a corridor, he tried the doors again, to see if something was usable to defend himself… or some bandages for the previous wound he got, he entered a Hatchery it seems?, since he notices several cribs for baby ponys, some of them where broken, or with bloodstains, just imagine what could have happen made stormy tremble with fear… he noticed a large window in the room it was strange, the mirror was reflecting him, but it reflected a shinny object in one of the cribs, he used the mirror reflection to check the right crib, as he took the sheets, he found out some kind of radio, he took the radio with his hooves, and sat down in the floor, trying to make it work, the only sound it made was static, Stormy did not knew why a Radio was doing in a baby crib, but he better take it, he put it in his bag and exited the Hatchery, as he was searching in another rooms, the radio started to make a loud static noise, Stormy taking noticed turned around, but he saw nothing… he turned around to continue forward, that is when a creature felt on him, it was the size of a young pony, but had a knife instead of front hooves, it's face was skeletal and had flesh about to fall off, it have hind legs but his torso had a large cut that extended from it's neck to its belly, like a surgical cut, also on half of his head, where his mane must be, it was some screws on it, Stormy tried to shake it off, but the creature thrust it´s knife on stormy back, making The Saddle bags to fall off, the radio keep launching a loud static as the creature continue to stab over and over again it's victim, Stormy could not take it anymore and with the rusty pipe he started to hit the creature, the creature fall off, Stormy finished the creature quickly, when the creature was on the floor, trying to get on it's hooves again, Stormy jumped on him, putting all his weight on his front hooves, the weight and the strength was more that enough to finish the creature, his previous bandages where starting to turn from white to red, as the blood from his back escaped from his body… stormy felt weak, he checked the saddle bag, and took the energy drink, he read it, it says " one of these and you will fell like a newborn foal ", well, stormy was not going to wait, he opened the bottle and drank the contents, the drink itself tasted bitter and it was like a combination of cupcake frosting and herbal medicine, his stomach was happy to receive the drink though, he started to fell better, but not enough to say 100% fine, he continue onward to a Strange room, the label above the door read " Main Lobby ", thinking it was the exit of this weird dream, he enter.

What he found there was a large hallway separated from the rest of the room by a large fence, there was 2 doors, one lead to the Director's Offices and the other one to the Nursery, he checked the Fence, for his surprise, there was somepony there, but the radio didn't make a sound, he approached and saw who was it, there was a Little colt there, with Stormy raincoat on him, drawing a picture, he was a earth pony, his face was almost like him, but the mane and tail where different, the little colt was more little that Stormy, but his cutie mark was visible, it was a pair of gears with a screw and a wrench, he was drawing something, not looking at stormy

"It….it can't be" Stormy said looking at the little pony

"What do you want?" replied the colt

"Eh?... Bro, don't you remember me?, it's me Stormy, your big brother" Stormy could not believe his ears, but was positive that the young cold was his little bro

"Stormy?, funny, you have the name of my big bro" Without looking the colt continue to draw

"Mistshine please!, seriously don't you remember me? " Stormy felt to the ground, starting to cry

"The only Stormy I know is my big bro, he give me my Fluttershy doll" replied the colt

" Fluttershy doll? " he did not remembered that doll, the only time he saw it was in a Gift Shop in Canterlot, and actually he had to beg to Celestia to get it " what are you doing here Mistshine?" Stormy asked

"Im looking for my doll "answered the colt, referring to his Fluttershy doll " can you please find it for me?, I can't get out of here " the colt asked

"Little bro…. ok I will, just sit thigh "Stormy stand up ready to look for the doll

The little colt did not say anything, but Stormy was positive that colt was his young brother Mistshine Brave, he did not saw him since he left Manehatten, there was only 2 rooms where he could search for the doll, he tried the Director Room, but all he manage to find was a drawing of 3 ponys, the drawing was made by Mistshine, Stormy looked at the ponys, one of them was him, and the other one was Mistshine, but the last pony was a mare, same coat color as Stormy and Mistshine, but her mane was brown color and had a Compass with a Quill, Stormy tried to remember that last pony

"Compass with a Quill… could be…Big Sister…. Sunnybreeze?" Stormy remembered

He was the second of 3 brothers, his Big Sister and First one to born, Sunnybreeze Brave, then he came along, Stormy Brave, and then, Mistshine Brave came, what was this dream trying to tell him?, he stored the drawing in his saddle bag, there was nothing else in the Director Office, so he moved to the Nursery, as he entered he heard a faint " yay ", he searched for the room itself, he found a large medical kit, Stormy used the bandages on his back, healing his wound from the previous encounter, another yay could be heard, he followed the sound until he found out the doll on the wall, something was pulling it to inside the wall, making it sound, Stormy surrounded the doll with his levitation magic, but as soon as the doll started to move, the thing pull it more deeper into a hole, it was big enough to put your hoof in it, he could not see it, even if he used his illumination magic on the hole, so he put his hoof on the hole, trying to recover the doll, as soon as he felt the doll, he started to fell a big pain, as if something was trying to rip his hoof apart, he continue to pull to his direction, trying to free himself, not letting go the doll, he used his magic in a form of magic blast to pull himself out, it worked, but front right hoof was injured, he looked at the doll, it was without a single scratch, he remember something from the past at that moment…

When he give that doll to his little bro… he could not exit the Nursery, the door was locked, only voices could be heard…

"The door is locked?! "Stormy noticed the door won't budge

"Oh wow!, a Fluttershy doll!, big bro you are the best! " said a familiar voice that echoed the room

"Im glad you like it Little brother, I heard you Liked Fluttershy, so much that you wanted to meet her " Said the voice of Stormy, but he did not talked at all

"Stormy!, don't say it aloud! " the voice screamed a little ashamed

"That voice… that's when i… "Stormy said to himself

Right before he could finish his sentence the door unlocked by itself, he exited the Nursery, and searched for the fence again, Mistshine was still there, Stormy took the Fluttershy doll out of his saddle bag and show it to his brother, hoping he could remember him know.

"Yay" the doll sounded when Stormy pressed her belly

"That's my Fluttershy doll, may I have it back?" Asked the Colt, standing up, still he did not looked at Stormy, his mane was covering his eyes

" Of Course Bro " Said Stormy, levitating the doll until Mistshine took it

"… " Mistshine said nothing as he unlocked from his side of the fence a little door that was on the fence, big enough to crawl to where he was " thanks…. Stormy " he replied finally

" not a problem Mistshine " said stormy as he passed thought the little door

"how did you know my name?" Asked Mistshine

"….im your Brother Mistshine, Stormy Brave" Stormy replied

"My brother?... but he died a few days ago" Mistshine was still confused

"That I what?! " Stormy screamed

"You scream just like him… thanks for giving me my doll , you should get out, before…. He find you " Said Mistshine one more time, but this time running away from Stormy

"Wait!, who are you referring?, wait!, Mistshine! " Stormy asked raising his voice to his brother, trying to make him heard

He take a look at Mistshine drawing in the floor, it was a pony with a iron mask, and a message was behind the picture, it read " Run, you can't fight him ", Stormy galloped, in the same direction as his brother, as he turned around in the corner, he found his raincoat on the floor, and some bloody hoofprints that leaded to the double doors of the hospital exit, Stormy picked up his rain coat, and put it on himself again, and put his saddle bags on him, over his raincoat, as he approached the exit doors, he started to hear a loud metallic noise from behind him, it was the same noise he heard when the Main doctor and assistant where killed, he had to get out!, he tried to open the door, but the door was locked from the other side, how did Mistshine get out if the door was locked?, he turned around and saw the Shadow of a big Pony, almost the same size of him, and Stormy was Royal Size, the was more short that Princess Luna thought, the shadow took out a giant knife, and it was carrying something in his other hoof, the corpse of the Main doctor, he threw the corpse making it impact the wall, Stormy saw how the corpse hit the wall, and the Knife of the Big Pony, he started to lose concentration, so much his spell for light turned off, he started to kick the door down with his hind legs, the door was not moving, the Lights of that hallway lit up, something unusual, and Stormy manage to see the pony coming to him, he was hearing a Iron Mask, with fangs and was bleeding from one eye, his big knife carried blood, and his body was covered by some kind of suit, like a butcher or chef apron, his cutie mark was a Bloodstain with a Knife, he had bloodstains in his hooves, torso and back hind legs, he only part visible from his face, was his mouth, which smiled showing it's fangs teeth when he saw stormy, Stormy was scared to death, he remember a Spell that make him launch magic bullets, he stood and prepare to shoot, the spell worked and fired 3 bullets to the Iron Mask Pony, but neither of them did any damage or stop him, Stormy continue to shoot, missing most of the time due to his fear, the Iron Pony raised his big Knife, Stormy screamed in terror as the Knife moved towards him, cutting him in half, a large scream could be heard… everything faded to black…

Stormy woke up abruptly, he still screamed from the nightmare he had and he was sweating cold, he noticed he was still in the Canterlot room where Celestia left him, but somepony was there trying to making him woke up faster,

"Stormy!, wake up sleepy head!" said the earth pony

"Aaahh!, no more please!" Stormy was still altered from the dream, trying to breathe normally

" wake up!" said again the earth pony, but taking out a party horn and blowing it near to stormy ears

"Sweet Luna!, ok ok im up…. Wait, Pinkie Pie?!" Stormy recovered and saw Pinkie Pie in front of him

" well duh, how where you waiting for?, a private Date with DJ-PON3? " said Pinkie Pie

" Pinkie…. Pinkie!" Stormy suddenly hugged Pinkie starting to cry, he was so happy to see her, but also he could not take it anymore

"huh huh huh?, Stormy please calm down, I never saw you like this, what happen?" Pinkie was confused but she has hugging his friend

"I have Nightmares Pinkie, very awful Nightmares!, I need you help! " said Stormy

Stormy explained all the contents of his nightmare, including the most recent one, Pinkie usual smile turned into serious and listen to Stormy nightmares, when she mentioned the blood and murder, or the creatures, Pinkie suddenly froze for a moment, when he mentioned his brother Mistshine…

"This is super serious Stormy" Replied Pinkie

" I know, I know, but I need you help in forgetting this nightmares, what should I do, please sis help me " Stormy asked pinkie, trembling from the memories of the nightmare

"Good thing I planned ahead, I bring Twilight along with me, she helped me with a nightmares I had a long time ago, she could help you out two with the same spell "Said Pinkie Pie, touching a red ribbon she had on her mane

"What kind of Spell?, I tried everything, from mint tea, to platform videogames" asked with a little confusion

"The Mind Delve Spell, a spell that will let us know the root of your Nightmares, this can help you out to stop the Nightmares " Said Twilight Sparkle, coming to the Room where Stormy and Pinkie where talking

"Hold up, Celestia told you right?" Said Stormy to Twilight

"Yes, she told me everything, including your plans to drop out of the Lunar Guards" Replied Twilight

"…Pinkie, when this is over, remind me to make a prank on the princess "Said Stormy, kind of disappointed, that Celestia told all details to Twilight

"Stormy, she is busy right know, she also have a problem similar to this one" Twilight tried to prevent Stormy prank on the princess

"Ok… so what are we going to do?" Stormy replied, Pinkie was next to him

" We will use the spell to find the source of your Nightmares, for what you told to pinkie, it may be related to Mistshine" Twilight replied as she stood in front of Stormy

"Could be, Pinkie has been like a Big Sis for me since I know her" he said remembering his childhood with her

"That's Right, but still, that bloody blue suit…" Pinkie also remembered the moment and a specific suit

" I don't remember it where it was, I think is lost" said Stormy.

" Well… are you ready Stormy?" Twilight replied ready to use the spell

" yes I am, I want this to end" Stormy answered, ready for the spell

"Whatever you do Twilight, I will not leave him alone " Said Pinkie Pie, also ready for the Spell

" not this time Pinkie, the Princess Herself told me you must make sure his body is ok " replied Twilight, thing that Stormy did not wanted to hear…

Twilight Horn touched Stormy Forehead, next to his Horn base, Stormy felt how his mind started to loosen up… the room once again started to felt cold and the images of Pinkie and Twilight where disappearing, he felt as his body was feather weight and he even felt a little pain, like if he where falling from a high altitude towards the ground, he lost track of how many minutes he was Knocked out, when he regain his consciousness, the Room where he was, was even more dark that before, and his friends where nowhere to be seeing.

" uuuughhh… my head, I fell like I have been inside a tornado, Pinkie?, Twilight?" he called to his friends, but there was no answer.

He tried to walk forward but he almost felt to the ground, he was dizzy from the spell, and he had troubles breathing, since the area was dark, he used his Light Spell, and his horn once again, shared light with his surroundings as if it where a lantern, he found out everything in the same place, except, no trace of Twilight and Pinkie, is this their idea of a prank?, they knew he need help, why leaving him alone?, he noticed something on the floor where Twilight was standing, a saddle bag, Stormy took a look at it, it was the same one as his dream, he open it and all he could find was the Canterlot Castle Map, he put the saddlebags on, and he took out his ocarina, he store it on the saddlebags, if something happens to the raincoat, the ocarina could get damaged, and is his mother who give him that instrument, she opened the door that leaded to the stairs, he was going upwards on the stairs until he got to another door, this ones was locked from his side, he unlocked the door, and exited the secret room, he was know in the Elements of Harmony Hallway, the door leading to the secret room closed by itself and locked again, but that was not the strange thing, it was the silence, a Silence like if there was no pony in the Castle, he tried to call his teammate " Noirstar?, Noirstar are you here?" but he did not get any answer, he checked the room where he was, the Lock where the elements are hidden is active, but the unusual thing, are the windows, one of them had a different picture that the one the castle had before, it was the picture of Luna only, and next to her was the Iron Mask Pony, the one Stormy saw in his dream, he started to worry for the princess so he tried to go to the Princess Bedrooms, when he exited the Elements of Harmony hallway and enter the gardens, he almost felt to a bottomless Pit, he hold himself to the floor, and looked at the pit, it was if like a earthquake has tear apart Canterlot, he checked the map, trying to find where to go, he could not get to the princess bedroom from the gardens.

"ok, Gardens out of the Question, but… what's with this fog?, I can barely see what I have in front"

Stormy noticed the fog that was present in the area, he stepped inside the Elements of Harmony hallway again, he then took a look outside one of the windows, the fog was preventing the view of the city, there was something he could use to move from the Hallway to the Castle Main Entrance, but he had to pass the bride that connects that section of the castle to the main castle area, but as soon as he turned around and opened the door that leaded to the bridge controls, a creature leaped towards him, it was the same creature of his dream, the one with 1 hoof and half body missing, Stormy fear kick in again, and he used his sword as a provisional shield, the creature continue to try to bite the colt neck, he pushed harder, making the creature lost its balance, Stormy did not hesitated this time and cut the creature with a Slash from his sword, the blood feel more real this time…

"This must be another nightmare… it must be… right...right?"

He questioned himself as he moved in the direction where the map says, if this was a dream or one, one thing is for sure, he was starting to regret in having used the Mind Delve Spell, either way, the only living pony he has found so far was the Hopping Pony he killed earlier, and he feared about what picture he saw in the window, he tried to open the Door to the bridge and it was locked with a special key, he turned around and opened a different door, this one lead him to the Custodian Room, a room designed for a Guard that looks who enters and exit the building, as also responsible of maintain security, but when he entered, the fog was present, he tried to see what happened, and saw a hole in the wall that leaded outside, but also found the corpse of the Custodian, in his bed, he was bitten all over his neck and hooves, the window as broken and several books where scattered on the floor

"Custodian Sharpeye!, what in the hay is happening?!"

He screamed and covered his mouth with his hoof as he saw the current state of the former custodian.


	2. Chapter 2 - Starts of a Living Hell -

Custodian Sharpeye, one of the most loyal Custodians ever, and the chosen for Princess Celestia to guard the Element of Harmony Building, he was laying there, dead, he was a old pony yes, but why him of all ponys?, Stormy walked closer to him, still in shock from his dead, a memory of him allowing Stormy to enter the hallway when he was a little colt flashed to his mind as he took a sheet from the nearby closet, and proceeded to cover the corpse, he noticed he was holding something, he took it to see what he guarded with his life to protect so much, it was a badge, a Custodian Badge, that allows entrance to all areas of the Canterlot Archives. Stormy gently place it inside his saddle bags and cover the body finally

"Sharpeye… you where a dear friend… may you find happiness on the other side old buddy "

Stormy said a few words before he checked the room for something useful, besides the badge, the only thing there for him to use, was a apple, he took a look outside thanks to the hole, he could not be sure if he could reach the floor from there, he was in the 2F, also he was not a Pegasus to fly downwards, maybe if he had a rope?, so jumping will not work, Stormy got out of the Custodian room and returned to the hallway, he checked the other rooms, 2 of them where damaged, nothing to do there, he used the stairs to go down to the Floor 1F, in there, since the main passageway was more wide, he found a not so nice surprise, 2 Hopping Ponys, if one was already a problem, 2 will not be good sign, he run towards the exit door, but it was also broken, when he ran to another door, one of the Hopping Ponys manage to bite him in his back left hoof, he used his sword to quickly finish it off, leaving the other Hopping pony, as he entered the room, he checked the place, he could see carpets and curtains, must be the Storage, he checked the place, trying to find the darn key to the bridge controls, but all he could find was rotten apples and a horse shoe?, the levitated the horse shoe, it was unusually heavy, but as soon as he move it, a soft click was heard, like a door unlocked, he did not pay attention and exited the room, this time, he tried to be as silent as possible to avoid the hopping pony, but his previous wound left a hoofprints in which the monster jumped, Stormy dodged again, this time he used his sword in a trust, it didn't kill the monster in one shot, but was enough to make some distance, he entered another room that had a horse shoe in the doorknob, he tried to turn the doorknob, but it did not moved, he pushed it, and it did move, he entered the room before the creature could recover.

"I would love to know what in the hay is happening here, but first things first, I have to warn the princess, now, besides the other rooms I checked, this is where the damn key must be ", he said to himself as he checked the map once more.

He took a look at the area, the map reads as "Armory", as the name suggest, this is where both, Lunar and Solar Guards, store their armors before the shift starts, each section of the Castle has their own armory, he took a look at the Custodian Sharpeye old armor, nothing unusual there, but he found something odd, as he walked, some parts of the armors where on the floor, he manage to find the key but it was inside a little box for security purposes, it had a plate, it read

" Sun and Moon are part of the very big Cycle, Harmony, when the Sun Sleeps, we watch the Moon Rises, when the Moon withdraw, We Saw the Sunrise, shinning above the land, as for we are the Sun and Moon defenders "

The plate refers to both Lunar and Solar Guards, since Luna's return from her 1000 years exile, the security has gone more tighter, he looked next to the plate, there was a button there, he pushed and below the plate, a panel with a circular picture appeared, on the above half, a image of Princess Celestia with the Sun above her and the land full of ponys happy, but on the below half a Princess Luna, with her moon, and most of ponys asleep, except for the lunar guards, there was a little lever to turn the picture, either clockwise or in reverse, Stormy saw the riddle one more time

"ok… when Celestia sleeps, so does her guards, then Luna awakes, when Luna Sleeps, Celestia wakes up, so basically is… one half turn…" Said Stormy, as he moved the Celestia half until it was upside down and Luna Picture was above

" another half spin counterclockwise" Stormy did it, the picture of Celestia returned to the default place

" one full Cycle Clockwise, representing Harmony " Stormy moved the picture a complete turn

The Picture store itself on the wall again, and the circular picture came back again but with some Lunar and Solar Guards, while the Solar Guards are Awake, the Lunar Guards in the picture are asleep, the picture in the above part, was the awake Lunar Guards

"Ok this one I think it is, one counterclockwise half turn…. One clockwise half turn, forward clockwise half turn, and another clockwise half turn, let's hope the guard manual was not mistaken about this"

Stormy made the turns and a soft click was heard, the puzzle locked itself as the box opened, allowing Stormy to take the key, as soon as he put in his saddlebags, a loud crash was heard from behind him, he turned around, a armor has fallen, but nothing unusual, when he tried to push the door, another sound came from where he was, the armor was now moving, Stormy took his sword, but all he could see was the armor moving kind of irregular, it was crawling in a zig zag move, moving towards Stormy, he attacked the armor, removing the helmet and all he could see was a shadow, with no form, it had a blank expression on its face, the shadow tackled stormy with the armor shoulders, making him fall to the ground, losing his sword, the shadow jumped to him, the sharp parts of the armor, made difficult to punch it, the shadow was having Stormy on the ground, and took a little dagger, it started to stab him on the hooves, Stormy screamed as soon as the pain reached his brain, making him shake off the creature, he took his sword again, and swing it against the creature, the blade for his sword passed through it, he quickly exited the armory and returned to the hallway, the Hopping Pony was still there, he do not wanted to waste time, since his right hoof was bleeding , he made a slash with his sword, holding his sword with his magic, the hopping pony received the slash, stormy then used the stairs to get on the bridge controls on the 2F.

The Bridge controls where on the opposite direction of the custodian room, he used the key on the door, and the door open without a problem, he entered, the controls has power and it was ready to work, the bridge will connect to the Canterlot Archives Library 2F, he pushed the button and move the lever, a sound of a bridge moving was heard, there was a memo on the wall next to the controls, it was a drawing…Stormy froze as he looked the picture, it was the Iron Pony, it was a words written on them, it reads "Run Brother!, you can't fight him!"

"wait, did Mistshine write this, how did he do it?, he is not on Canterlot… is he?" he said.

He took a second loot at the drawing before placing them on his saddlebags,he exited the hallway and enter the Elements of Harmony Hallway, to his left was the only door leading towards the bridge, he did not lose any time and move forward passing the bridge, the door to the Library tower was locked, it has a little hole, Stormy took the badge from Custodian Sharpeye, the badge entered perfectly on the hole, opening the door, Stormy opened the door and took the badge with him, he could use it later, when the door closed, a click was heard, the sounds of the bridge withdrawing, he could not get back, he was inside the Canterlot Archives now.

He was in the passageway that leads to the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing, the passage way did not have many doors, most of them where broken, but there was able to see several books in bookshelves, he remember perfectly the Library, it was one of the most highest buildings in Canterlot, so big it had 5 floors, so he used the stairs on the second floor to go to the 3F, that's where the bridge controls for the Main Castle where, but as he checked the door and stepped inside, he felt something on his back again, there was the same creature from his dream, the Ceiling Filly, it laughed like a maniac, getting ready his front hooves with knifes to stab Stormy, this time, he was manage to shake it off, the creature quickly got up, ready to attack, his skeletal face was showing a smile, Stormy took his sword again and attacked the creature, for his surprise it was very resistant, since it manage to hold up more that one blow from the sword, the creature manage to stab Stormy in his chest, he could felt the cold steel inside his flesh, but it did not damage internal organs, Stormy attacked again until the creature was beheaded, he was breathing heavily, it seems he was way to careless and there was no bandages to wrap the wounds either, he looked at the controls, but they had a note

" a note?, here? " he levitated the note to read it

" due to technical difficulties, the bridge to the main castle is out of service, we apologize for the inconvenience " was written on the note

" oh great, now you are telling me, wait, there is something else here " said Stormy, paying more attention to the note "

"5465" it was written in blood on the other side

" mmmm, better took this note with me, could be something useful " he said as he placed the note inside his saddlebags

Although the wounds are not serious, he was starting to leave blood on the floor, he had to find something to heal himself, he searched on the rooms in the floor he was in, he did not had a map for Canterlot Archives, so he had to check room per room, he tend to avoid confrontations with creatures, but what is very strange is, the amount of creatures, one would think that the place will be filled with creatures waiting there ready to kill you, but the Archives where empty, even for a Library, that silence is excessive, he checked a room, that looked like a office, probably it was the Archives Director's Office, he searched the room for something of use, he checked the drawers, but nothing useful, just a tasty apple he took in his saddlebags, but he did manage to find a old pocket radio, it was still working it seems…

" A radio… but it looks so familiar " Stormy said as he picked up

A soft crack was heard from the window, Stormy looked at the window, but there was nothing, he was about to exit when the radio let out a loud static noise, the window broke and a creature tackled Stormy, making him fall to the ground, he looked, it was a Pegasus mare, but had a large robe covering all her body, also her wings where missing some feathers, but also looked like made of bones, and yet, the look on her face was angry, she had her front hooves missing flesh, you could see the bones, but she had a cutie mark, it was some bones snapping with a Scythe, the Skeletal Pegasus flew across the room, attacking Stormy, her back hooves did also not have any flesh at all, but in fact, they where only bones with a sharp end, that she used to attack while flying, Stormy draw his sword to cover her attack but the creature used her sharp back bones and give him a good buck, making him throw his sword, the creature, seeing Stormy without defense, attacked again, Stormy did not have any other weapon

"Gah!, come on, Think!, there is a reason why you are the only unicorn in Lunar Guard!" Said Stormy, nearly dodging the creature

Wait, he remember a spell!, a magic bullets spell, he was not sure if the magic blast was going to hurt the creature, but it was his last hope, the creature returned to attack again with it's back hooves, Stormy´s horn started to glow as he shoot a magic blast from it and hit the creature, she screamed in pain, the blast made it hit the wall very heavily, Stormy took his chance and finish the creature putting all his strength in his front hooves as he jumped towards the creature, the creature was no longer moving… he picked up his sword and moved towards the exit, as he placed one hoof on the doorknob the radio sounded again, the Skeletal pony raised up again, Stormy did not have time to react, the mare jumped again on him, making him impact the wall, she then stabbed the poor colt in his right hoof, where his previous wound was, preventing him to reach his sword, but what it was most strange is that the mare attitude changed, her angry look persisted, but she did not tried to bite him, she took Stormy sword with her front hooves instead!

"You…..must…..Pay….For…..Your…..Sins…" The Mare had problems talking, probably due to the lack of flesh in her throat

" Get…OFF! " Stormy demanded using another magic blast

The Skeletal pony reacted differently from before, she stepped back dodging the attack, but instead of attacking she took off, flying away from the room, taking Stormy sword with her, he now have no defense besides the magic bullets, " that mare ", Stormy thought, he had a funny feeling, almost if that creature reminded him of somepony he knew a long time ago… but he was not sure, he tried to stand up… but his wounds now started to make impossible to do that… he checked his body for damage…besides his right hoof that was making a horrible pain just trying to lift it, that had multiple stabs, his back was also damaged, probably one broken rib, He placed his left hoof on his back, the spine was fine, but the pain was focused on one rib as he was thinking, he tried to stand up, but his back legs where also badly damaged, he was loosing too much blood, his back hind hooves where also damaged due to bites.

"ahh….this pain….is too much to bear….Princess…. Forgive….me "his strength failed him as he said this words and collapsed on the floor from exaustion

Everything was started to fade to black, his eyes where starting to close, he could not believe it, his body was actually more fragile that he ever thought. He heard the door opening… he was afraid to open his eyes, and meeting another creature or worse… but… he heard some hoofsteps, his ears where still working, he heard that somepony left something, because a soft hit was heard, it was the object hitting the ground, then the door closed again, Stormy did not feel any other pain, besides the ones he already have, he open his eyes, to see what was the sound he heard, to his surprise was a full first aid kit, from the Canterlot Nursery.

"A First Aid Kit?, but this is only available at Canterlot Hospital, that is almost Next to the Royal Castle and the Princess Celestia School for Gifted Unicorns, who could have? " Stormy was questioning himself as he started to crawl to open the kit

The Kit had everything, bandages, suture kits, hemostatic medicine to stop bleeding, disinfectant, even morphine to do not feel pain for a while, it was like a medical care in one little box, sadly, it can only be used one time, but the most strange thing it was the fact, this kit appeared just in front of him when his wounds where too serious, also, this kind of kits are only available at the Canterlot Hospital, which is Inside the Main Castle Area, how did it get from there to here?, Stormy did not wasted any time, and with his remaining magic, he started to treat his wounds , the needle and thread used to close surgical wounds was already sterilized, as Stormy closed the wounds, a little blood manage to escape, but with the disinfectant and Styptic manage to stop the bleeding, the bandages covered his wounds, sealing them up, sadly, for broken bones there was nothing made of wood to help his broken bone to heal, he looked at the windows, there was some broken wood from the window frame, he took it with his magic and pressed them against him, then he wrap it up in another bandage, finally he was cured, still he have to be careful, it will take a few minutes to recover his magic, so meanwhile, he will try to avoid monsters encounters

"If this kit came from Canterlot Hospital, I guess I will need to take a look"

Stormy stood up again, he open the door and searched for the Stairs that took him to the remaining floors, on floor 4 and 5 there was nothing useful, just some creatures he preferred to avoid, he was still not fully recovered to examine the Archives to its fullest, but there was something strange, the radio was not emitting a sound, even though if the creatures where in front of him, his curiosity took the best from him, the 2 creatures was just standing there, as soon as Stormy touch them, they felt on the floor,

"What in the…" said himself as he checked the body "This creatures where killed a long ago, they have Sword marks, is somepony else here?"

He checked a room in the 4F, it had a numerical combination, "wait, a numerical combination, that's it!", almost immediately he took the note from before, and input the number written in blood, the lock on the door sounded as it unlocked, Stormy entered the room, seems it was a old book storage, when the books are needing to be reorganized, they send the old ones to this area, most of the books where dusty, what he was looking in there?, he tried to look for something that could help him enter the main area, as unusual as his current situation is, there should be something out of place, as a matter of fact, there was something out of place, a book was opened in the middle of the room, but the more strange thing, it that most of the pages where torn out, Stormy checked the book, it reads " Book of Ancient Song of Harmony ", only the cover and the 4 pages where good enough to be read, Stormy approached the book to read it's contents.

"For Anypony reading this book, the following pages contains several songs used to perform by royal request for both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, some of this songs are magical for themselves, and should not be attempted to usage in any circumstances, unless you have direct permission from both princesses " Said the warning on the first page that Stormy read

" Ok… so this are Ancient songs before Luna got banished, maybe this could be useful, if I can master all the songs in this book, there could be a change I can talk with the Princess Luna via magic song… let see.. "

Stormy checked the Table of Contents of that book, he was trying to find a song that could be used to communicate with Luna or Celestia, since Luna most of the time use and act as she was still 1000 ago, she should be able to answer the Ancient Song, he looked almost as his eyes where about to merge with the book

" Come on… Princess Lullaby, Minuet of Everfree, Oath of Harmony, Song of Refresh, Pegasus Storms, Earth Pony's Ballad, Serenade of the Seaponys…. uughhh, none of them are communication songs, also, most of the pages are missing, wait, there is a song on the next page " he said as he found was he was searching

"Winds of Friendship, a song used to communicate with somepony over long distances, wait, this is!, let's see, the song itself is not difficult, but is very loud, it will attract creatures… but I don't have other choice " Stormy said to himself as he was taking his ocarina from his saddle bags

It has been too long since he use it, but he still remembered how to play it, the book instructed on how to connect with the pony you want, you have to concentrate via magic, great, he was tired of using his magic non-stop, but he had to try at least, he concentrated his magic on his horn again, as he levitated the ocarina, and started to play it, following the notes on the book, the magic on the ocarina made it easier to play, but Stormy was only thinking of talking to the princess, he played the song fully, from head to toe, but… he did not get any answer

" Oh for Pete sake!, great source of help ancient book!, Dumb book! " Stormy raised his voice due to the lack of immediate answer

But after he ended, his ocarina, which it was still floating in mid air by Stormy magic, glowed with a Dark Sapphire Blue color, he recognized the color almost instantaneously, it was the Princess!, he picked up, no longer levitating it, as the glow faded and increased, indicating magic response

"HELLO?, ART THOU A PONY WHO KNOWS THE TRADICIONS OF EQUESTRIA?! " Said in her royal Canterlot voice the princess, if the song did not bring the monsters, she will

" Ouch!, my ears!, no princess, is not any ancient pony of any like that, is me Stormy Brave, one of your Guards "

" HUH? "the volume her voice lowered a bit to continue speaking " im sorry, when i heard one of the Ancient Songs, I had to answer, how is it that you know that song? " Luna asked

"By a book here in the Canterlot Archives, but most important princess, are you ok?, are you hurt?" Stormy asked the princess, worried about her safety

"Why the sudden question?, yes im fine… wait WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE MOON?!" Luna screamed loud

"Holy Celestia, Luna my ears!, what happened? " Stormy asked again

"Canterlot is covered by a fog, too dense to see anything, im trying to see the Archives from here, but is almost impossible, what can you tell me about this guard?" Luna was trying to find any answers

"im a little confused about that detail myself, but I can tell you this, there are creatures on the castle, very strange, and not precisely friendly ones, im coming to the Canterlot Castle for you, your highness " Stormy told Luna what he knew, hoping the Princess will provide him with some info about her room

" I can take care of myself guard, but my door is locked from the outside, and Im not going to fly from the window either, I can't even see the ground " Luna replied, her voice sounded a little worried but with confidence

" either way I will reach the main area princess, I would recommend blocking the window " Story said as his ocarina started to lose the connection

"why is that guard?" Luna asked a little confused

" Let's just say, that there is a flying creature with my sword that likes to break windows" Stormy replied to Luna, remembering the Skeletal Mare from before

The glow on the ocarina faded and Stormy could felt a little pain on his head, he was dizzy, the ocarina hit the ground as he tried to read the book, and what he found was something he overlooked on his rush to contact the princess, the book reads

" Final Warning, If this is your first time playing this songs, make sure you are in top shape, otherwise you will be unable to use magic for a full day, as the songs of this book take great amount of magic, remember, the more you practice, the less magic you will use in each song "

"Oh For Celestia´s Plot!, NOW are you telling me?" Stormy angrily took the book with his hooves and throw it against the wall

He could not believe it!, his only chance to defense was his magic, but now he cannot use it until tomorrow?!, he had to read that damn book, but either way, he manage to contact the princess, and knowing that she is alright is all that matters for a Lunar guard, he walked to the book, but this time he place it inside of his saddle bags. He walked to the door and open it, but the Radio started to emit a sound, the creatures where coming, the problem was, from where?, he had exhausted his magic with the song before, and the only room with light was where he took the Book, he could fight with his bare hooves? He could if he could see where his attacker was, he returned to the room where he took the book and Started to move a big bookshelf next to the door, he pushed blocking the exit, as he took a moment to breathe, a loud hit against the wooden door was heard, the monsters where trying to took the door down, there has to be a way out of there, he noticed one of the windows opened, he did not wanted to do that, jumping from the window, but the Radio still emitted a little static, indicating the creatures distances, he carefully looked outside, another crash on the door was heard, he could see that the window below was broken, what a coincidence, it was the room where he was attack by the Skeletal Mare, he carefully held himself in the edge of the window, trying to touch the 3F broken window with his back hooves, he could hear another bang indicating the creatures had entered the room, he let himself go closing his eyes, he felt as he went down to the 3F

Just in time he placed his hooves on the edge of the 3F window, and put all his strength to get himself inside the room, the remaining of the First Aid Kit where still there, but he could get to the Stairs on the Second Floor and then proceed to the main door, he quickly galloped full speed towards the exit, and moved to the stairs, he was careful enough like to go down the stairs quickly enough to get to the second floor, once there, he guided himself with the light that came from the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing, as he passed thought there, he noticed several scrolls on the Floor, he could check them yes, but he was still hearing a little Static coming from that room, better not take any chances, he continue to walk until he found the Lobby Door, a big door that leads towards the Lobby in the second room, from there you could go to the Main Reception And Main Wing in the First Floor, but the place was still dark, as Stormy was going down to the Reception, he noticed the Radio making more Static, he got scared, and galloped at the Main Entrance, he tried to open it, it won't budge even a inch, he was trapped, he tried searching with his hooves near the doorknob for a place where he could place the Custodian Badge, but the door did not had any slot for the badge, if was at if… it was magically looked, there was a lantern near the front desk, he took it to try to see something, it was a old oil lantern, with a little valve to increase or decrease the light, he was looking, holding the Lantern with his mouth, trying to find the creature responsible, all he could see was books, books everywhere, the static of the radio was starting to sound more and more closer, Stormy was slowly walking backwards, until he touched the wooden doors, he heard a sound of a Door unlocking, it was the door that lead to the Main Wing Reading Room, also… there was some voices there, he turn around to see where the voices came, they came from the front desk, but what he was not expecting, is that the one making the noise.

"Excuse me… the Lunar Guard manual?" Said a little voice of a young colt

" Yeah, is in the Reading Room, hold on a minute " said a mare that was attending the reception, a soft unlocking was heard " is open now "

" Thanks" Replied the little colt

" hey… shouldn't you see a Doctor for those? " said the mare referring to the little colt bloodstained clothes

" Oh This?, don't worry, it is already dried up " said the colt as he galloped to the reading room

"…" he could not talk due to the lantern in his mouth but he took it off for a second " it Can't be… can it?" Stormy questioned himself as the voices disappeared

It was Him!, him from his fillyhood, and the ghost mare, it was the receptionist at the time, why did the radio reacted from ghost?, could it be…. That was a memory… his memory, what in the hay was happening?, either way, he felt that he need to check the Reading Room, so he walked towards that room, it was a very wide room with several desk, most of them have the same time of lantern he was using, most of the books where old and dusty, others where so old that the words are illegible and turn impossible to read, he noticed his own ghost sitting in the farthest bench of the room, next to the window, but when he came closer, the ghost disappeared… he placed the lantern on the desk, and noticed there was a book that was already half way read, he read the words written in them

" And So the Laws written by the ancient guards are clear, the Lunar and Solar Guards will defend the princesses with their life, however, the guard should never look to the princess with Non-servant eyes, being in love with the princess you sworn to protect will be consider an act of betrayal having no other choice out of it that Death, as punishment for their sins " that was written on the book

" I remember this… when I was a little filly I always loved the moon more that the sun, I tried to join the Lunar Guards to meet the princess " Stormy smiled when he remember that " kind of selfish really, since my first day of work, all I could think was… "

Stormy could not finish his sentence, because as soon as he finished reading the book, a Siren at the distance sounded, the light outside started to dim, as the Night, or the Shadows in this case, took over the place, Stormy did not felt fear, since he was more that used to the night, but why the Princess was sending the Night right now?, he could not contact her to ask, he placed his hoof in complete confidence on the table, but he felt his hoof passing through the table, he look at the table, and it was shattering, no, not shattering, it was like if the whole place was changing to a twisted version of itself, the usual white and purple color of the walls was cracking and moving upwards, discovering that underneath the usual walls, a kind of yellowish and red paint was painted, the tables where replaced by metal fence tables, some of the wood for the chairs also was getting transformed, and the red carpet on the floor started to have holes in it, Stormy quickly picked up the lamp before the same effect happened on it, he saw the book slowly turning old, as is time itself on the place was accelerating, for once in his life… he was scared of the night, when the siren stopped, so did the transformation, the floor was very cracked, as if anypony hasn't lay a hoof in a long time, he walked slowly on the floor, hopping it will not break, in fact it did not, it was capable enough to bear with his height, there was nothing he could get in that room, so he exited and returned to the Reception, it was all twisted over, the bookshelves where on the floor and several old and illegible books where lying there, he tried to open the door again, but the doorknob felt, the Static sound started to appear again, he checked again, and he saw more Hopping Ponys coming at him, he prepared his hooves waiting them to come, with the lantern he could see it, the creature jumped towards Stormy, as he dodge one, another jumped to him, he used his back hooves to give it a good buck, but the other creature was able to bite his front hoof, he shake it off and started running towards the second room, he ignored the pain that each step made, due to the wound, but he did not had any other weapon, reaching the second floor doors, he noticed that it was damaged, he turned around to find a alternative exit, the static sound of the radio was getting stronger, the stairs being shaped like a big Y, made the hopping ponys able to slowly climb them, he checked the other door at the opposite end of where he was, that one opened well, he returned to the Hallway, but this time it was something different, the usual red carpet it had more holes and bloodstains in it, some of the torches where out or broken, and even the usual Moon and Sun Shield designs where busted, the walls had more doors, but there was one that caught Stormy attention, it was the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing Door, it was wide open, he got closer to the door, it was forced, he entered the wing, the Giant Sand clock was still working, and most of the scrolls there was intact, the radio did not emitted any sound, kind of a relief to him, since the main door is locked, he probably could find something there that could help him either recover his magic or exiting the Archives, he checked several scrolls, but most of them where illegible due to the old they where, perhaps if it was day he could read them?, there was some pages torn in the floor, that was kind of unusual, as he checked one of them, it reads " Song of Refresh ", Stormy stopped for a moment, reflecting about the content of that page

"Song of Refresh… wait, is this one of the pages of the book I picked up earlier?" he said as he placed the lantern on the floor

Stormy took out the book, and placed the page inside, in fact it was a page from that book, he took a more attention to the song description, it reads that it can recover serious wounds, but using it would cause a total magic usage, even for experts performers, if he used that song, being novice, there is a risk of never regaining his magic again, for now he will store the page on the book, as soon as he placed the book with the new page inside his saddle bags, he noticed something on the window behind the sand clock, he picked up his lantern to take a look, it seems there was a path that took outside the Canterlot Archives… it leads to the main street, he could get out from the window, if, he had a rope, he checked the wing again, but this time… the Radio started to emit a faint static, he froze in place as soon as the static happened… a metallic echo started to sound on the place…his face started to turn pale as the Static and the sound started to increase, he turned around, there was nothing in the dark, he started to move away from the static, into the sand clock, but that is when the Static was getting louder, he saw the entrance to the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing, and saw a big knife opening the door, Stormy fear grew more and more, as he saw a Big pony almost as big as Celestia, but with a Iron Mask and the giant knife, just as the one from his nightmare before, it was walking towards him, he never felt this kind of fear, and he had nothing to defend himself, the Iron Mask Pony came closer to him and raised his sword, Stormy mind told him to move, to run away, but he was frozen in place, the knife came downwards towards him, Stormy mind finally send orders to his legs to move, he dodge to a side but the knife cut part of the sand clock metal ornaments, he could not do anything to that kind of monster, he ran away towards the exit of that room, the iron mask pony was slowly following him, he opened the door, and pushed it back to place, the Iron Mask Pony just stood there, as if he was watching in silence, how the former Lunar guard was completely lost in his fear, Stormy ran toward the Stairs taking him to the Third Floor, but there was a Hopping pony already waiting for him, he used his front hooves this time to hit the creature, the creature jumped, but it received the blow, Stormy continue to hit the creature, his hooves where strong, but not enough to prevent the creature from getting up, he used a combo, 3 hits with his front hooves, then a good kick with his 2 back hooves, that let the creature on the floor, he had no idea where to run from the iron mask pony, but wait, there is one floor he had completely forgotten , the Fifth Floor, it was kind of the Attic for the place, he quickly found the Stairs taking to him there, he was glad he had the lantern with him, otherwise he would already have… no, he did not wanted to think in the worse, he still have to get out, the fact that the Iron Mask Pony is in Canterlot, the more he wanted to get out, when he reached the 5F, there was something strange there… the place looked exactly the same as the library Before the transformation…the red carpet was intact, the torches lit, so there was no need for the lantern lit, also the moon and sun shields are on the wall and in perfect shape, the floor itself only had 3 doors working, the other ones where either lying on the floor, or not opening at all, did he stepped into another dimension?, he took some steps backwards, returning to the 4F, and the 4F had the transformed aspect, he was not understanding what was happening, he opened the first door he had access to, it looked like a bathroom, there was a rusty steel pipe on the tub, he took some steps closer to the tub and picked up the pipe… it was 1 meter long, but enough resistant to use it against something, he place it on his back, where he used to keep his sword, he exited the bathroom and enter another room, it was a bedroom, nothing unusual there, just that he found a health drink, the same one as his previous dream, everything was turning far more that strange, why is a bedroom and a bathroom doing on the Canterlot Archives, and why is that floor the only normal one?, he checked the last door that it was working, it lead towards a big circular place, the center of the attic, where most of the books that are no longer available to public are placed on special bookshelves, but the whole attic only had one Table, it had a great view of Canterlot, just that right now, nothing could be seen since it was dark outside, the table had a open spell book and a tea, Stormy touched the tea cup, it was still warm, that was very unusual, the table itself had a Lantern lit and a little picture in it, Stormy took the picture, it was the receptionist, The Attic, it was her home, she was devoted to the Library from heart and soul, he looked at the book, it had something that caught Stormy eye, it was a architecture book, from the Canterlot Archives, even a map of it was attached to it, Stormy read the book

"In Cases of Extreme Emergency, the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing count with a secret passageway that leads to the basement, from there a Stairs leads towards the exit just below the window in the Wing, in order to activate it… "The book ended there, stormy checked the other page, and there was a riddle there

"The Path to salvation will open, when Time turn itself backwards "Said the riddle written in blood

" Wait… there letters, are in blood, the blood is old, maybe other book here can tell me how to recover my magic? " he thought for himself

He closed the book and checked the nearby bookshelf, most of the books where about history, there was a book with a page in it, used as a bookmark, he open the book where that page tells, it was a nutritional explanation of equestrian fruits, he found a apple before, and he still had it, he checked what it said, as he draw the apple from his saddlebag, there was information about Sweet Apple Acres and the different kinds of apples they harvest

"Sweet Apple Acres, the most principal income of Ponyville and Canterlot Apples Supply, besides Hay and the Daisy flowers, the apples consist one of the most fundamental part of a Pony diet, The Red Apple is one of the most common fruit in Equestria, but for unicorns it had some special effects, besides being nutritional and tasty, it helps in the recovery of injured unicorns which lost their magic capability, although is not much the quantity the sick unicorn recovers, is still enough to use the most basic spells, like Levitation or Illumination, As for the Green Apple, it recovers more amount of the sick unicorn magic, sadly, the Green Apple spoils too fast if it is stored in a closed space, like a bag, as for the legendary Zap Apples, being Magical, they recover to the fullest the Unicorns magic, and gives a little boost, unfortunately, the Zap apples are too rare and almost impossible to acquire before the Zap Apple Harvesting, also, are the quickest one to spoil if you store it on a bag for more that 30 minutes, Granny Smith recommends; don't waist time in picking it up if you are not going to eat it, that's why the Zap Apple Jam or Dishes had to be made almost right away when the apples are ready, once they are ready, there is no problem over time "

Stormy read to the fullest the book information, so in unicorns, it had Special effects if they are eaten, he never heard of that before, although he remember Pinkie Pie saying something to him about special meals had some effects, like the Mint Tea he always drink that calms the jitters and relax the mind, or that the Strawberry Cupcake grants her superultraawesome detective powers!...

But of course that last one was Pinkie Pie overactive imagination, Stormy took the apple and eat it… he was both relieved and surprised that he actually was eating something after all the scares, wounds and problems he had already experienced in this so called "nightmare ", he felt how his magic slowly regain a little amount, he tried a simple trick, levitating the book back to its place, the book was surrounded in his magical aura as it moved from the table to the bookshelf, the apple worked, he took a look on the paper used as bookmark, it was another page of the Songs book, it read "Brothers & Sister Duet" and it was actually a song that required 2 ponys to play, one playing the instrument and the other singing, his usual face turned into a extreme sad one, Brother and Sister duet, his eyes started to get filled with tears, tears he could not hold back any longer, First the nightmare where his Brother Mistshine would not remember him, the fact that he was all alone now in that limbo, and that Pinkie Pie, the pony he saw more as a Big Sister instead of a friend, Why, he keeps wondering, why did they left him alone in that place?, he was crying as far as his eyes where capable of producing tears, this was not a dream, he was much more awake, only one word could describe what where he was, he was in a living hell, once again, he was crying, due to the events of a living nightmare, only that this time, he was more than awake…

"Mistshine… Sunnybreeze, Little bro, Big Sister, where…. Where are you now that I need you the most?"

He continue to cry, letting out from his chest all his stored pain, the book on the table where the map was, started to absorb Stormy´s tears


	3. Chapter 3 - Even Royality have Sins -

Stormy lost count of how much time did he cried in that room, the memory of her family hit him hard, that was something he decided to close deep in his mind, all he could remember is that is was so awful, that it made him abandon Manehatten, as a little Filly, and live on the streets, for a while, but almost all his fillyhood he forgot it, he lit up his face and dried his tears with his raincoat, he looked at the book that had the map for the archives and the riddle to get out, since the front door was already out of the question, he took the book and with his hooves he ripped the map, so he could use it this time, he also wanted to save as most magic as possible, something told him that, he will be using it a lot, he stored the map on his saddlebags, and also turned off the lantern and put it away on the saddlebags, he used his illumination spell to use his magic as lantern again, he took the steel pipe on his hooves and stand up from the table, he opened the door, leading to the 5F hallway… but that's when everything turned to worse, the hallway already looked old and in the same condition as the rest of the Archives… he slowly returned to the room he was, and it also looked twisted, old and with bloodstains on some places in the walls, the special books, most of them where missing, except the 2 books he already read, he noticed something on the table he was sit before, it looked like a puddle of blood, a drop of it keep falling on the puddle… his mind was telling him " don't look up… don't look up… DON´T LOOK ", but, his curiosity won again, his eyes looked at the ceiling, he saw a corpse in a advanced state of decomposition, without it skin, it was suspended on the roof with barbed wire, it had a glasses on what it looked was the face, a middle age mare, the only thing he could use to indentify the poor pony, was the glasses, he looked at the photo of the table…

"The…The Archives Receptionist! " Stormy almost jumped from the scare

At that moment, he saw a blade near him, he dodged to a side, it was the Iron Mask Pony, his mere presence was enough to make the radio burst into a loud Static, he had a coat on his empty hoof, with a scroll and quill cutie mark, Stormy knight mind did not took long to process what happened, that monster killed the receptionist!, his fear turn into anger as he launch himself to attack him using his recent found pipe. the creature did not move a inch when stormy hit it on the face with it

"You killed a helpless mare!" Stormy yelled

"…" The Iron Mask Pony did not replied

Instead of giving Stormy a answer, he thrown the mare ripped skin towards him, sadly, stormy receive it, all the blood was still fresh and it manage to get his raincoat, mane and hooves stained, the Iron Mask Pony attacked him, using its Big Knife, Stormy instincts and Guard training, told him to shield himself with the pipe, one of the dumbest idea he had all day, the creature strength was huge!, it manage to send him towards the window, which almost broke from the impact, he definitely could not fight that beast, he run away, back to the hallway, as far as his hooves could take him, he heard a sound of a opening door, just what he need it, the creature knows how to use doors, what next?, Dancing?, he did not waited any time on the 4F or 3F with that thing following him, he must get out of the Archives as soon as possible, so he moved towards the 2F, sure there was some doors he wasn't checked that had the Custodian Badge slot, but it was better to come later in daytime, he got quickly to the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing, the door was open, as expected, he closed the door and pushed a bookshelf to give him time, the secret entrance was there, he must use the Hourglass, it was so obvious, he checked the clock, for his bad luck, some of the ornaments of the clock was broken, thanks to Iron Mask, but there was something inside of the sand clock, it looked like a page of a book, Stormy tried to read the title before the sand covered it, it reads " Song of Time "

"Oh perfect!, even if I get the page I could not perform it, my magic only allow me levitation or illumination at the moment, not time manipulation. " Stormy was starting to get irritated

He noticed something like a hole to use something as lever, the pipe he was holding was 1 meter long, so he used the round end of the pipe and put it on the hole, it seems the "lever" could now be moved downwards, so, he did it, as soon as a click was heard, he took the pipe out of the hole, the clock seems to starting to turn around, like spinning, when the clock ended up spinning, the sand on the clock stopped, and just in the center of it, on the ornament, what it looks like a button appeared, Stormy press it, and the clock remaining ornament detached from the clock, and it had turned into a horizontal lever, it did not take much thinking of what to do next, he pushed the lever clockwise, but it did not happen anything, he tried pull it counterclockwise, and the circle where he was, clock included, started to lower itself moving towards the Archives Basement, during the decent, the clock was working, and the sand magically was returning to the upper part of the clock, leaving the book page on the below part without sand, but the deeper the clock goes, the more darker it became, there was one point where the Illumination Magic only was able to let Stormy see where he was putting his hooves, until a loud Clank was heard, it took too much time to get to the basement, but when he did came… the top of the sand clock suddenly started to give light… Stormy stopped using his illumination spell, but then, he locked down, besides the circular plate where he was before, the floor was made of fence!, and he looked in front of him, there was a big creature in front of him, it looked almost the size of a Teenage dragon, but it had fangs and it color was very dirty, it was also very fat and big, it had two front claws with chains on the upper claw, and the back of the body had missing the back hooves, the spinal column was visible as so part of some bones, what shock Stormy the most, is that it was eating another monsters, he saw at the floor and noticed several Hopping Ponys and Ceiling Filly's screaming in pain, the creature put several of them out of their misery by ripping them apart, as soon as Stormy lay a hoof out of the circle, the sand clock erupted into flames, providing with enough light for the creature to notice Stormy presence, the face did not had eyes, or at least that is what it looked, they where black all over, and just a tiny dot in color red, what could be the iris, the creature with its two massive claws moved towards Stormy, who was still frozen, his mind reacted in time from where the claws of the beast was just centimeters from him, he hold the grip of the steel pipe with his remaining magic, he moved to a side making the creature miss, Stormy attacked him with the pipe, it didn't seem to do much, due to the massive mass of the creature, the creature turned around and hit Stormy with his claw, it ripped his raincoat and also injured him on his side, the nails where very sharp, and he could already feel a little amount of blood leaving his body, but he had a idea, taking advantage of his speed, he hit the spine column with the pipe, although the creature seems to had felt the hit, it turned around and attacked stormy again, he had to try another thing, he tried of using his magic Bullet Spell, but his current magic amount only will last him for 3 fires, he galloped towards the creature, the Monster took the bait and moved towards him, trying to eat him alive, Stormy´s horn glowed as he hit the creature in the face with the steel pipe, making it turn another way, he climbed on the creature and stabbed his horn on the creature dark eye, he then shoot one magical bullet across it, the creature let a loud roar as it's blood stained Stormy face, the blood of the creature was dark red, Stormy´s horn was covered in blood as he was send away hitting the floor by the creature strength, he felt a big pain on his back, the creature, even with one eye working, he could see Stormy very well due to the flames on the clock, it raised it's claw to squash Stormy like a bug, Stormy had a idea, he placed the Pipe on the holes in the Fence and hold into it, when the creature lowered it's claw, the pipe went through it's flesh, since the previous usage of the pipe have sharpen it a little, the creature lifted the pipe making room for him to get out of the way and stand up, the creature had something Stormy did not noticed before, the left hoof had a bracelet, Stormy had to recover his pipe, the creature bit the pipe and took it out of its claw, making it impact the floor, Stormy charged another magical bullet, using that weapon takes too much of him, thanks Celestia he was trained in how to control it use it efficiently, he galloped to the back of the creature and shoot his second fire at close range, the impact manage to break the bone and the creature stopped for a moment, Stormy tried to find his pipe, he was surprised he was actually fighting something so big, the pipe was bloodstained on the floor, he picked up without using his magic

"All right… time to take out the big ugly here" he said as he faced the creature

Unfortunately, the Creature wounds only made it more mad, as it moved more faster to Stormy, this time he could not react in time, the claws of the creature stabbed Stormy body as if he where made of paper, he could feel the cold air and the blood escaping his body, the creature throw Stormy into the fence floor, Stormy felt as how the floor literally broke, he ended up hanging on the edge, he was using the pipe as a improved sword to prevent him from falling to the bottomless abyss

"Gah!, you have got to be kidding me!, that fence did not broke with the creature weight, but it did with a attack?!, Sweet Luna, how Im going to beat this thing?" Stormy questioned himself as he put all his strength on getting back up on the fence floor.

Once he was able to get out of the hole, something felt from his saddlebag, it was the energy drink!, it felt into the abyss, the creature had ripped a hole in it, he did not had time to check if anything else was missing, so he galloped towards the creature, and the creature just opened his fangs to eat Stormy up, he used his Steel pipe and managed to use it to prevent the creature to close it mouth, he charged his last bullet spell

"Open Wide! " Stormy screamed as he used his last bulled with all his strength

He did not knew how much amount he used on that last bullet, but he remember that it took it all his remaining magic, the creature coughed blood as a large thump was heard, the creature was no longer moving, Stormy tired took the pipe and hit the creature head several times, the creature did not moved. It was dead, a faint eco of a Siren was heard at the distance, as Stormy could not stand anymore and felt towards the ground, fainting from exhaustion…everything turned into black again.

During the time he was unconscious, he could hear some voices, some voices that echoed in the darkness, he tried to pay attention, but his body was not moving, they where kind of fuzzy, all he could see was a little colt standing next to a big pony in a expensive suit

"Get out of my office Kid, that is not my jurisdiction" Said the big pony while he was eating a big amount of hay fries

"What in the hay do you mean is not you jurisdiction?!, my mother, your secretary is very ill!, she could lost my little bro that is on it's way!, how can you run a Town if you don't help others?! " the little colt yelled

"I said Get out!, Guards! Take this filly out of my office! "the big pony angrily yelled, as the guards took the colt out

"You will not get away with this!, you will pay! " those where the last words of the colt before he was throw outside the office

Stormy´s eyes started to open, still dizzy from the fight… but those voices keep echoing on his mind… he was able to recognize one of them… the little colt one, it was his voice, maybe a fragment of the past he forgot, once he was able to open his eyes without feeling dizzy, he noticed with his hooves that the floor was solid, it was concrete, he took his lantern out and turn it on, he noticed a key on the floor, it reads " Canterlot Castle Main Gate", this was the key for the main doors of the Canterlot Castle, he took it and place it on his saddlebags, but the key felt thought a hole, he took all his items to see if he was missing something, the Book of the Song of Harmony, prevented the lost of the little Custodian Badge, same thing goes for the maps, radio and ocarina, but the Energy Drink was the only thing missing, he looked at his current place, it was a basement, with several wooden boxes there and some very old fabrics, like if they had not being used on a long time, most of the boxes had books, also there was only one door, he took one of the fabrics to fill up the hole on his saddlebags, but it was too big, he checked the room for something else, he noticed some needles, not for tailoring, but it will have to do, he tear a piece of the fabric and started to stitch the bag, sadly for him, using his hooves, since his magic was out again, once he finally was able to fill the hole, he placed all his items and the key again on the bags, he notices on the room that the Hourglass for the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing was right next to him, the sand was in the upper part, but the lower part do not longer had the Song of Time page, he tried to see if the page was near him, so he tried to pull the lever clockwise to go up back, but when he touched the lever, the page was wrapped up like a stroll

"Ok… this is strange, how in Equestria did the page got out of the hourglass?" he questioned as he read the page contents

With his current state, no effect would happen if he play it, due to his lack of magic, but that doesn't mean he didn't read it, the page described that it will turn time backwards or forward depending what the user wants, it affect the whole environment, but the user and the ones that touch him in that moment will be unaffected.

"…" he took the book out of the saddle bags and placed the page inside after he finish reading it "So… Basically, I and anypony who touch me meanwhile I play it, will travel thought time for a couple of hours, and only I and the secondary traveler will remember "

Stormy sighed for a moment, finding the new song he found not very useful in this kind of hell, also the magic song seems to consume a good amount of energy, he got up and held the lantern with his mouth, as he stored the book back with the new page, he walked towards the door he had in front, he walked upwards, as the Receptionist book said, the stairs took him outside, he was in the little path that leads towards Canterlot Streets, Luna wasn't joking when she said she couldn't see the floor from her room, the town was covered with a very dense and thick fog.

Once he was back at the streets, he did no longer needed the lantern, the daylight was providing light enough to continue forward, so he put it away on the bags, he tried to go to his apartment, it was not long from the library, he remembered he had some cupcakes left on home, and even a green apple, so he hurried back to home, he took the usual street, right next to the restaurant, but when he turned around the corner, the road was destroyed, there was no way to enter that way.

" no way… here too?, what Im going to do now?"

Stormy was trying to find a answer, he looked at his building, where his apartment was, and the hole itself, most of the buildings next to the hole are almost falling inside, but his apartment remains untouched, that means, there must be another way, he had to go back, and take a detour, between the Art Gallery, the radio emitted a faint static, on the fog, Stormy manage to indentify a hopping pony, he did not had time to fight it, so he run away instead, the radio stopped the sound, seems that the creatures where not fast enough, he found out that the street, right next to the Fairytale's Bookshop Store, his apartment was there, he was in the Canterlot Residential Area, he placed his hoof on the doorknob and open it, once he enter inside the building, he had to go a couple of stairs up, once he opened the door, it was still as he left it, cupcakes where laying on the floor, his video game consoles perfectly hooked up to his TV, his bathroom, he searched his table for the green apple, but it was not there, he searched for the cupcake, there was only 1 left… can he have already eaten all of them during the last 4 months?, he carefully placed the cupcake on a little cardboard box and store it on his saddlebags, the Mint Cupcake, was his favorite, Pinkie Pie usually makes it for him when he is feeling depressed, a echo of another memory sounded in his head, it was Pinkie Pie singing, and he even heard her bouncing happily, he opened his kitchen door, and he was frozen in place, for what he saw

"_All you have to do is take a cup of flour,  
Add it to the mix!  
Now just take a little something sweet, not sour,  
A bit of salt-just a pinch!_

Baking these treats is such a cinch,  
Add a teaspoon of vanilla.  
Add a little more, and you count to four  
And you never get your fill-a~

Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty~  
Cupcakes-don't be too hasty,  
Cupcakes~ cupcakes,_Cupcaaaaaaakes!_ "

Said Pinkie Pie singing to a younger little colt, as she made cupcakes with him, Stormy eyes filled with tears, he noticed the little colt, and that memory, it was the first time he had saw Pinkie pie, when he was a little colt, when he first visit Ponyville

"… I guess a little bit of mint will also work " the little colt replied

"Pinkie Pie!" Stormy screamed jumping towards her

When Pinkie noticed, she smiled, Stormy tried to hug her, but he went through her like a ghost, he turned around and Pinkie Pie was no longer on there, the kitchen had remaining of cake mix and candies all over the place, the fridge was also opened, with 2 green apples inside, Stormy picked up one apple and eat it… satisfied to had eaten something, but his face still had some tears left, he store the other apple on his bag just in case, he felt as if a bigger amount of magic had returned to him, but his smile, quickly turned into a sad expression, he imagine Pinkie Pie there, even though, he already knew he was all alone there, he tried hard not to cry, remembering he still have a mission to do.

" I Can't waste anymore time now, I must go to the Canterlot Castle "

He turned, ready to leave, he was aware that the apple will spoil quickly, so he had like a 30 minute window for it, when he turned around to take a final look on the kitchen, he noticed something on the bowl with cake mix, candies and vanilla, Stormy took it out, it was a key, with a cupcake in it

"What in the name of Pink?, this is the Sugar Cube Corner Key, how in Equestria did this key get to Canterlot from Ponyville?!" Stormy was more confused that ever

Sugar Cube Corner was located in Ponyville, how did the key to Pinkie house get in there?, he store it in his saddlebags, it was starting to get full, so he used the same spell he used on his raincoat to have extra space, of course, it was testing to see if the apple, which it did, with his magic restore to a half, he could perform more spells, he exited his apartment, the same way he enter it, and ran towards the Canterlot Castle.

As expected, there was no guards on the front gate, Stormy took out the key from the castle from his saddlebags and use it on the Castle Main Doors, the clicking sound of a unlocking was heard, Stormy moved forward inside the Castle.

"The Canterlot Castle… this is where I came to train to be a Lunar Guard… "

Stormy remembered his first sword training, the attacks with magic that he learned from Shinning Armor, even he remember playing his ocarina at night on the training grounds, he took his ocarina out and played the Winds of Friendship song, to contact with Princess Luna again, the amount of magic he used this time, was more little that last time, and the ocarina this time reacted almost immediately, the princess had responded

"I heard the song from up here, I guess you are in the Castle right?" She said

"Yeah Princess, im coming, have you seen anything unusual?" Stormy replied, worried about her safety

"you should be more concerned about you guard, but yes, I heard a metallic echo on the hallways, but I did not saw the pony with your sword" The Princess replied

Stormy concern grew more, the metallic echo is the big knife from the Iron Mask Pony he encounter on the Archives!, how in Equestria did he get there so fast?, he started to run, levitating his ocarina to keep in contact with his magic.

"Im going to your room, hang in there, and if you heard the echo getting more and more closer, don´t wait for me!, get out! " Stormy replied to the princess, his voiced sounded scared

"You should hurry, I heard the echoes on the Castle Armory "The princess said to stormy as the ocarina stopped glowing

Stormy stored his ocarina on his saddlebags and eat the second green apple, his magic was recovered not to the maximum, he was going to need it if the Iron Mask Pony was on the Castle, he took the map from the castle, and took the quickest route to the Princess Celestia and Luna's bedrooms.

The Castle was intact, the armors, torches, carpets on the floor, even the curtains or the doors, everything was as if they never got damaged, he passed through the Guards training grounds, that is when he noticed the door to the bedrooms locked, he kicked the door several times, but it didn't budge, Stormy called the princess from below, but his voice could not be heard, he remembered that Luna said the Iron mask Pony was on the Armory, that is on the Basement 1, almost next to the dungeons, his instinct told him to check the Throne Room, since Celestia spend most of her time there, she must have the key, The thone room was on the 2F from the main lobby, he moved to there, but when he open the door… a blood trail goes towards the throne… Stormy felt a cold chill heading down towards his spine, he stained glass showed the heroic deeds of the Mane 6, Defeating Nightmare Moon, Returning Discord to his Stone prison, and even Spike saving the Crystal Empire, when Stormy reached the throne… Celestia´s crown was there, but no trace of the princess… just a huge amount of blood making her silhouette, Stormy did not liked the looks of this… should he inform Luna?, the Crown had blood in it, but below it, was a blood stained page that it reads " Princess Lullaby " it was another song from the book, but Stormy was not able to finish reading it, since his radio started to emit a static, he turned around and saw the Armored Shadow from the Archives, the armor he had to fled because nothing was able to hurt it, he had no need to use the illumination spell, since the light entered from the windows, he concentrated and used a magic bullet on the creature, the creature took the blow, it didn't do anything, Stormy stepped back, as the Armored Shadow tackle him, he dodged to a side and almost immediately hit the helmet of the armor, the helmet was send flying to a extreme of the room, but the shadow pony was still ready to attack.

Stormy as ready to attack, he hit with the steel pipe another piece of armor, and noticed that the shadow pony made a face like if he was hurt, that's it!, the Armored Pony is just a possessed Armor, taking out each piece with a strong hit, will break the pony connection to it, The shadow pony used his own armor as weapon and hit stormy on his stomach, making him move backwards, the creature tackle him again, making Stormy hit the floor, when the Creature tried to step on Stormy body, Stormy charged one magical bullet on a non protected part of the shadow body, the bullet hit him, making the creature scream in pain, seems that light based magic is deadly to it, Stormy charged another blast and finish the creature off, the remaining pieces of the armor felt to the ground.

"uuff… for a shadow, it really had quite a kick"

Stormy took advantage of this moment and read the page he found, it says that it was the princess Lullaby when they where little filly's , used to be played by The Mother Alicorn, but the Alicorn name was bloodstained and could not be read, but the song was readable, Stormy played the song, and it was not hard to master, but the magic consumed was not much, seems it didn't had any magic effects, sadly the key was not in the Throne Room, so he moved towards the kitchen, not before taking Celestia´s Tiara just in case that Luna asked what happened to her sister. When he exited the throne room, the radio burst into static, he saw 2 Ceiling Filly, he was not going to waist time, so he fired his magic bullets, it took 2 shots to kill them, Stormy entered the kitchen, but it smelled horrible, several ants where on the tables and the cooking pots had dried soup in them, he put his hoof on his nose for a while, " sweet Luna…. This smells horrible, hard to think 4 months ago this was used to make wedding food "Stormy think to himself, as he searched for the key, or something he could use, there was a note on the table… with a blood stained knife?

"2 horns, 3 Pegasus feathers, a liver and a heart….. What kind of soup is this!? "

Stormy was shocked to read the note, it looked like somepony was cooking ponys, this made him instantly throw up, he did not wanted to check the pots or the fridge, he did not had enough courage for that, he exited the kitchen and headed to the Guards Private rooms, yeah, each guard that chooses to live in the palace, get their own room, separated due to ranks, from the lower, to the highest Rank, once Stormy entered the tower where the rooms are, he heard a little static, seems there was a creature near him, he did not wanted to lose time, he was concerned about the princess, he checked room per room, most of them had the doorknobs broken, or the door was destroyed allowing to see inside, although, the rooms that they where opened, they had something at least to use, one room had a Energy drink, another room had a red apple, and a Soldier Diary?

"a soldier diary?, let see… the last page was from 4 days ago" Stormy said as he read the contents of the book

"I Overheard some Lunar Guards last night, the Princess Luna is not been able to sleep at all, is just like those stories that the Element of Laughter told us the last time she was here on royal duty, according to her, you lost your appetite for your favorite meals, also you look sad and tired, then the nightmares came back, I think the problem was caused due to the recent events with the Cristal Empire, the Princess wanted to help, but Princess Celestia insisted on letting Twilight Sparkle go, most of us the Lunar Guards, sometimes see her taking long flights around Canterlot and Ponyville with a few hours, maybe seeking advise from the Element of Magic?, I don't even know now, I want to help our princess, but only Shinning Armor had the key to enter the Princess Towers, when is bedtime, all Guards must leave, to let either Celestia or Luna sleep… what could be making Princess Luna stay awake even in daytime? "

Stormy stopped reading… could be… that the Luna he was talking about, was another creature disguised as the Princess he swore to protect?, or that really, the Princess herself is also having nightmare, that are somewhat connected to him? How can that be possible… unless…. He exited the current guard room, it was a Solar Guard, maybe other guards keep more information in they journals, he searched more decided this time each room, he entered on a Lunar Guard room, besides their armor, a note was on the bed, looks like a journal entry, just what he was searching for… but this one was very strange, it had some messages missing, it was bloodstained.

"No Sleep-That Raincoat Colt- Bad Dream- " the note continued stained for a while, but there was a readable part, it said ; " I know his Sin, and I will tell the princess! "

For some reason, those last words send shivers to Stormy spine, what could he have knew to write that?, he tried to exit the room, but he felt something on his back again, the radio bust into static, it was a Ceiling Filly, those little devils where very good at avoiding activating the radio, just that this ceiling filly was different, besides the already look and screws they have on the head, it was wearing a remaining of what it looked to a suit, a cyan suit, Stormy shook it off, and attacked him with the Steel pipe, the filly escaped the attacked, launching itself a attack, Stormy placed the pipe in defense, the creature ended up biting the pipe, Stormy swing the pipe downwards making the creature hit the floor hard, the creature got up, but stormy used his pipe again on its head, the creature started to emit a painful growl, Stormy put all his strength on the last blow, making the filly to go quiet… painlessly… it did not felt the hit… he exited the room quickly and searched for other rooms, there was only 3 rooms remaining, Shinning Armor room, his teammate and his superior in the Lunar Guards, Noirstar, and the room from the second in command from the Solar Guards, Starlight Sight, he checked Starlight first, he loved seeing stars at night, he found another journal entry in the telescope on his room, Stormy read it to find more information on what is happening to Luna

"Being awake at night, like most of the Lunar Guards, I can see many things, one night I saw the princess Luna, crying in her room, talking to Princess Celestia, seems she still has a hard time getting used to the modern times, but I had overheard several strange rumors about the princess of the night, she had been suffering of terrible nightmares, so awful that even Celestia was shocked, I could not hear much, but I could noticed on the weeks after that conversation, that Princess Luna was awake most of the time during the Day, trying to be helpful in any way, one day even she took a armor and made guard with us for a whole shift, kind of humorous really, but still the same problems happens each time she want to sleep, Celestia herself told us to keep this information secret, but I have to get it out of my head, she said that Luna had been having nightmares where she ended up murdering everypony on the Castle, including Celestia, being possessed by Nightmare Moon again, could be possible?, that the Elements of Harmony had not eliminated all of the corrupted state of Luna, when she was Nightmare Moon?, only time will tell, she told us she will try something to help her, let's pray that Celestia knows what the hay she is doing…"

That Last journal entry cleared all to Stormy, or at least the reason Luna was also there… she had been having the same horrible Nightmares as him, that's why Celestia took immediate response to his plea of help… with more reason that ever, he wanted to get to the princess, she will not survive this hell all by herself, not with her fear being corrupted again, he searched the remaining 2 rooms, The one from Noirstar was opened as he entered the room, he founded painted in green color, the floor was slippery and the closet had a spare armor, but the strange thing of the room, was a recent letter, addressed to Noirstar, Stormy read it carefully, Noirstar was one of his closer fiends on the force. But it said something on the letter, it says….

"My Subject, or should I call you Noirstar now?, I will get straight to the point, I didn't send you to infiltrate the Royal Guard to make friends!, you are a subject, who lives to serve me, I own you, get it? I know that you have been very happy on Canterlot, let me tell you, that happiness will not last forever, one day, Celestia will know that you are a Changeling and will banish you, all the ponys you knew will turn around, so I will give you one final order, go to the princesses Bedrooms and kill them both!, only like that you will be accepted back on the Hive!, otherwise… well, let's just say that I will pray a lot to do not see each other again. Your Truly, Queen Chrysalis, Changeling Queen "

There was something else on the letter, Stormy turned around, it was green blood writing, and had a key attached to it, it says…

"I can't do it!, but… what about if they never know?, I want to be remembered as a pony, not as a traitor changeling, but this are my Queen orders…. For the love of Celestia!, I can't take it anymore! Somepony… anypony….Help me... "

It was Noirstar writing, this was too much info to digest…his best buddy, was a changeling?, that can't be true!, if he was a changeling, he has been feeding on love from everypony, he could be easily kill Celestia or Luna, but why he hadn't say anything?... oh yeah… the Wedding invasion, if he had said anything after the wedding, Celestia would probably had locked him in a dungeon and banish him, maybe he was too scared to talk?, and maybe, just maybe on the back of his mind he always had suspected of him, the strange strength and agility, ability to fly without any visible wings, and his green magic aura when he shield himself, he couldn't also betray his friend in telling Luna or Celestia, but will defend himself if necessary, he took the key from the letter, it was the princess tower key, he took the key and place it on his saddlebags, he checked the last room, it was Shinning Armor room, did he ever lock his door? The place had a big picture of Princess Cadance and the Armor he always wear on the Castle, she sometimes visit Shinning Armor in his room, that is why the bed is big for 2 ponys, he searched the room, there was a white stain on the bed, also, there was lot of funny smells on the room, a adult pony would already know what happened there, but there was something on the bed, besides the white stain on it, it was a magic stroll, it mentioned a more powerful bullet spell, with it, he could fire more bullets using less magic, or even a send energy to his sword, or in this case, pipe, to make it more powerful in each hit,, also it had a magic shield spell, but the amount of magic to use it was huge, he had to increase his magic limit, Stormy read it and store it on his saddlebags to practice it later, he exited Shinning Armor room and galloped full speed to the Princesses Bedroom.

During the way he was meditating about what he had found out so far, Celestia is nowhere to being seen, Luna had the same nightmares as he had, about murdering innocent ponys, and the problem with Noirstar, if all that information is correct, then he is definitely not on a dream, he is on another dimension, trapped on a endless nightmare, he reached to the tower, but at least 3 hopping ponys where waiting for him, Stormy took the magic scroll he took from Shinning Armor room, and tried his improved spell, the magic bullets where more powerful, the hopping ponys took the fires, and was enough to took them out with one shot, he then used the key on the doors and open them, he could hear a metallic echo on the tower, Stormy heart jumped to his neck as the echo was getting louder, each time he took a step closer to The Princess Luna bedroom, he tried to enter Celestia´s room, but the door was damaged, he reached to Luna room, and called her, as she mentioned, the door was locked from the outside with a powerful magic on the doorknob.

"Princess… im here!" Stormy called to the door

"Guard?, you sound more childish in person, get me out of here" Luna replied

"That's what Im trying, but there is a powerful magic spell on the door, it won't budge" Stormy mentioned as he tried to kick the door down

"It´s no use, I felt my sister magic on the doorknob, why did she left me in my room locked?, did you find her Guard? " Luna asked, her voice sounded concerned

Stormy has gone silent… what he was going to tell her?, Sorry Luna, your sister is dead and only I had her bloodstained tiara, yeah, that sounds very smooth, he tried to reply to the princess, but each time he tried to open his mouth… the words wouldn't come out, Luna asked again, and Stormy found no other way that telling the truth to her…

"Im sorry Luna… you are the only one alive that I had encounter so far… I only found Celestia´s tiara covered in blood on the throne room " Stormy told her the truth

"….."Luna did not replied, just her breathing was heard

"Princess?, Princess!, Luna say something!" Stormy started to worry

"….." again no response from the princess

Stormy panicked, he was not getting response from the princess, he took Celestia tiara and wear it himself, he remembered a spell that Celestia used to lock the elements of harmony hallway, maybe he could imitate it? He concentrated all his magic on his horn, sparks where forming on the tip, he inserted his horn on the hole in the doorknob and used a unlocking spell on the door, he was so panicked and worried that his magic aura was getting bigger, but mysteriously, his body flashed for a second, like if something had awoken, after he used his spell, his horn was still glowing… but had not a mysteriously dust, he touch it and noticed that the " dust " disappeared…and his horn stopped to emit magic, the color from that dust was pure white… as the Moon, that the princess Luna always bring. He got up and opened the door, storing Celestia´s Tiara in his saddlebags.

The Princess was still unconscious, seems the impression of her sister demise was too much for her, Stormy gently picked her up, she was very heavy, and place her on her royal bed, this was his first time on the Princess Bedroom, no guard had ever do that, well, right now he is no guard, just a civilian, he tried to make the princess react, but she was out cold, Stormy took advantage of this and searched her room, he was going to take the princess with him, the Castle was no longer a safe place, when he opened her closet, and took her saddlebags, he tried to find something that Luna could use as a weapon, her room was filled with videogames consoles and games, but nothing she could use as a alternative weapon, Stormy used his pipe to rip a piece of wood from the door, about one meter long, when he finds another pipe, he will give it to her, he took another look to her bedroom, he tried seeing under her bed, and found out a Energy Drink, Stormy decided to keep the Apple and put in Luna's Saddlebags, the energy drinks he had, once he finish checking her room, he turned his attention to her… this was the first time he was actually this close to the princess, ever since he joined the Royal Guard, he remember the first time he saw the full moon, it was when he was a little colt in Manehattan, he placed his hoof on her shoulder, but she let a painful glow, like if she was sad or something.. he could not blame her, she just lost Celestia in this nightmare, Stormy took out the his ocarina, and played the Princess Lullaby song, since it did not had any magical effect, he use it to relax Luna, it seems that it worked, since she smiled, she got herself up, she let out a yawn…

"Good morning Guard" Luna replied

"Good afternoon Princess, sorry about the news" Stormy apologized for telling her about Celestia

"Don´t worry guard, im sure my sister will not die easily, maybe you found her tiara but not her actual body" Princess Luna said, getting herself out of bed "you prepared my saddlebags? Guard, don't you know about personal space?"

"well excuuuuse me princess, but the Castle is not precisely safe right know, we need to get out" Stormy said to her, kind of mad that the princess didn't thank him

"I understand " said Luna, as she equipped her saddlebags " Stormy Brave was your name, was it guard?" she asked

"yeah… that is my name…" Stormy replied

"Stormy Brave…. I would like you to tell me… what is going on" Luna demanded answer from her new companion

Just in that instant, a Siren sounded again… the light was quickly fading away and the castle was turning into a twisted version of itself, just like in the library, Stormy used his illumination magic, and Luna dis the same, the princess bed was turning red and old, also dirty, the games consoles where also starting to gain rust, and even the flat TV fall apart, Luna, saw how not only her room but also the whole castle started to change, first the walls, losing some concrete and paint, leaving rusty steel rods on them, and the wood form the door felt over, the carpet on their hooves started to had holes, and the floor had a very rusty and dirty look, the floor had some holes in it and what it looked like rain started to fall, this eliminates Stormy theory that Luna bring the night, since her horn is not glowing, maybe in this limbo, the weather and time is controlled by itself…

"GUARD!, WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE MOON IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" Luna screamed using her royal Canterlot voice, as she saw the state of the castle

"Ouch, my ears!, Luna, I have no idea to be honest" Stormy covered his ears " but I can tell you that staying in one place will not be a good idea, we need to keep moving, stay really close to me " Stormy said to Luna

Both of them started to descend from the Princesses Bedrooms or Royal Quarters as the map described that place, Stormy prepared his steel pipe just in case, the princess had a serious look on his face… but Stormy already knew that inside that brave look she is making, she is as scared as him right now, stormy asked her a Question…

"Luna…. You also… had been having terrible nightmares right?"

The Princess Face changed completely…Stormy saw her… and she was frozen… she simply nodded, answering positive to Stormy´s Question, the princess could not believe it, she was really that easy to read?, she hold her tears as she followed stormy, he was silent, he didn't want to cause her to remember a painful memory


	4. Chapter 4 - Test of Friendship -

Stormy and Luna exited the Royal Quarters, the silence seems like almost eternal, when Stormy asked the princess about her nightmares, she instantly has gone quiet, the Stallion opened the door leading towards the Royal Gardens, which connects to the Main Area of the Castle, Luna saw the state of her home right now, the sky was black, not a visible star at the horizon, the ground was sticky and the grass was withered, but no only that, below the dirt, in a hole on the ground, they where able to see a fence, as their only protection from a large and big bottomless pit, Luna by instinct started flapping her wings to keep herself floating, Stormy had to break the silence here, thankfully to them, the radio was not emitting static.

"Princess… what are you doing?" Stormy asked

"Can't you see we are standing on a fence?!" Luna Said, hovering herself

"Princess, there are worst things that worrying about falling to a bottomless pit, I will sound impolite by saying this, but stop flying unless is really necessary, as you can see " Stormy said preparing himself

Stormy started to jump several times on the floor, Luna covered her eyes with her hooves, not wanting to see him make a hole and fall, but the fence was sturdy enough to bear with his height, Luna saw this and calmed herself a little

"Don't scare me like that!" Luna said to her companion

"Sorry princess, but I had to show you" Stormy apologized "the fence is the least of our problems, we have to get out of the Castle" Stormy replied to her

"Do you have an idea of where to go? Or if there is any place that is safe from this….. This…"Luna was trying to find words

"Hell?" stormy interrupted, finding the only word possible to describe their current location

The Princess was right, they didn't have any leads if there was any place safe after what Stormy had encountered so far, but his recent travel on the Archives flashed on his head, he remembered that, when he was about to die, somepony gave him a first aid kit, only available at hospitals, Stormy took the map from Canterlot Capital, Luna looked at it, it had written down big X when the road outside the castle are down.

"I guess I found where to go next" Stormy replied

"Forgive me if I ask, but what are you doing?" Luna asked, seeing Stormy drawing a circle in a specific building.

"When I was on the archives, I was about to die from bleeding, and I lost consciousness, but suddenly I heard somepony give me a First aid Kit" Stormy told the princess his recent experience

"What?, there is somepony else alive?, but you said…" Luna was confused

"I know what I said Luna, but I just know it… and I think it could be my brother… Mistshine"

Stormy last words stroke a fear on his spine, as logic started to kick in, who else but his little bro could have give him the kit?, but why he is here?, what kind of sick torture was this?, his brotherly instincts kicked in, and if his bro was alive, he had to go to the Canterlot Hospital as quickly as possible, he was only hoping the princess will understand, Luna was seeing how this stallion was worrying for his bro

"Here, this is Canterlot Hospital, the best there is, my bro could be here" Stormy said to the princess, his face showed a huge concern

"We must pass the castle to get there, but if this X is on the way, that means I can get there flying" Luna suggested

"No Luna, we cannot go separate ways, that would be a bad idea in this situation" Stormy said "we must exit the castle and then find a way to get to the Hospital"

"Is your brother that important?, why didn't you have gone there, before coming here?" Luna questioned Stormy

Luna question froze Stormy in place… why he didn't have gone to Canterlot Hospital first?, it was not far from the Castle, but until that moment, he never think, that his bro will be on that kind of hell, Stormy could only stand up, storing the map on his saddlebags with his magic.

"Yes… is very important for me" Stormy replied to the princess "that's why I have to find him "

"If that is the case Stormy Brave, I will help you out" Luna said

"Princess…" Stormy said

"is more that clear you won't leave me alone here, and neither will you leave Canterlot without your brother, so either way, we will going to be together in this " Luna said, being a little optimist " perhaps we can even find a way out of this"

The princess words where more that enough to calm Stormy tormented mind a little, but his heart had to contain his joy of having the princess traveling with him, both ponies stand up from the ground and moved towards the inner part of the Castle, when they entered it, the aspect was not much different form the one of the Archives, Luna tried the front door but it was locked, Stormy approached the princess, he tried the Canterlot Castle Gate key as before, but the key turned into ash as soon as stormy tried it on the door.

"What is the meaning of this Stormy?" Luna asked

"I don't know… is the right key, unless…"Stormy replied

"Unless it is protected by a magic spell "Luna said, confirming Stormy thoughts

"Great. Now I lost the key to the exit, because it was not magically protected… I am open to suggestions" Stormy said

"Well… I heard there was a spare key to the castle front doors on the Throne room, and it was magically enchanted by my sister" Luna told Stormy

"Then, let's go and get it "Stormy got ready

Both of them galloped to the Throne Room in the 2F, but this door was also locked, it also required a key, Stormy grew frustrated, but the radio burst into static, by instinct Stormy placed himself in front of Luna, she was wondering where the static sound was coming from, but as she moved a little, a Ceiling filly hopped on her back, Luna screamed as she saw the creature ready to stab her, Stormy moved his steel pipe towards it, shaking it off from Luna's back, the creature throw it's knife towards her, she used her wing to protect herself from damage, but the knife trusted on her wing, she let a painful scream, Stormy raged as he shoot the creature with a magic bullet, the Ceiling filly hit the wall, stormy then beat the living daylight out of the monster with his steel pipe, Luna took a look to her wound, it was not serious, but she will have to avoid flying to high.

"Stormy Brave!, that thing attacked me!, what is this place?" Luna said a little scared "No pony had ever tried to hurt me" she said, finding out the reality of this place

"I know princess, I know" Stormy replied "that's why we need to keep moving, and I have to get my bro out of here, extend your wind Luna" Stormy asked the princess

"Beg your pardon?"

Luna was confused, why he asked her to extend her injured wing?, but right now, she don't want to question him, after all, he is a guard, Luna extended her wing, letting her wound very visible, it was on the base, so extending her wing for long periods of time could be hard from her, she heard a ripping sound, and saw how stormy was using a piece of his own raincoat, as a bandage, she was a little embarrassed, once stormy ended patching her up, he picked up his pipe, the radio was not emitting static.

"Thank you" Luna replied

"Don't mention it Luna" Stormy smiled as he answered "we have to find the Throne room key so we can get the Canterlot Gates spare key

"we can try the great hall where the Grand Galloping Gala was hold" Luna Suggested

Luna suggestion was not bad, before the castle turned into the Twisted version, he forgot to check the Great Hall, both of them moved towards the hall, stormy advised Luna to be prepared to attack, so she took out the Wooden table, it still had a nail, so she can use that for her advantage, when they opened the door, they found out 2 hopping ponies, Luna was scared, she had saw others ponies nightmares or dreams, but in this one, she was more than awake, a hopping pony jumped towards Stormy, he used the spell he learned on the magic scroll on Sinning Armor room, and charged the pipe, the blow was very strong, enough to send the creature across the room, the second creature attacked the princess, she used the wooden table as defense, the creature bit it, and the nail trusted on it's tongue, allowing Luna to counter attack, she swing the table, hitting the creature with the nail end, the creature received the blow, but it was not enough, she then prepared her horn and charged a magical blast, since she is a alicorn and the princess of the night, her magic skill is far more superior that normal unicorns, the creature not only was killed, the corpse was send flying away from a hole on the wall.

"Sweet Celestia!"Stormy exclaimed "What kind of magic spell was that one!?"

"Come on; is just a simple magic bullet spell, but what kind of creatures are these?" Luna said, as she saw the remaining hopping pony corpse

"Whatever they are, I don't want to be near them, come on, let's go Luna" Stormy said

Both of them started search for a key or something, but all they could find was broken glass and damaged instruments, as Luna was searching for the key on the stands and tables, Stormy was searching on the instruments stand, he found out something in the piano, it looked like a page, he read it, it was not a page from the Book of Harmony page, it looked more like a riddle, he looked at the piano, some keys had blood in them, Luna tied open the door that leads toward the Castle Garden, but it was locked, Stormy tried to follow the riddle on the page

"when the silent moon glows with grace, the path to heaven shall become visible" it was written on the page

"Stormy, this door is locked… but" Luna notices something strange on the door "this door don't have any visible lock" she said

"I bet my GameCube that we can unlock the door with this piano" Stormy said, ready to play it

"Wait!, you have a GameCube?!" Luna seems surprised

Stormy noticed that there was some keys on the piano that where not blood stained, he touched the ones without blood, and the piano didn't emit a sound, playing the keys in a specific order was already hard, since the riddle didn't mention any order, they where stuck there for a while, even Luna tried, but the door didn't open, Stormy frustration grew more, so he tried a random order, from right to left, and a soft click was heard, the door had unlocked, but ponies with a relief face, opened the door leading towards the castle gardens.

The gardens have a withered aspect, not only that, but the whole place looked like if it was not cared during 1000 years, Stormy and Luna walked forward, hoping that nothing will jump from the bushes and attack them, they have gone to a some sort of kiosk, it had blood inside of it, and a blood trail leading towards it, Stormy had a bad feeling about it, the forest was so dark that both, his illumination spell and Luna's only manage to let them see where they where going, the radio busted into static, and a monster was coming out of the kiosk… but this was different from the others, this was clearly a mare, they where sure of that, but that creature had scars all over her body, it had no mane or tail, it also didn't had a cutie mark, instead it looked that had the cutie mark taken out from its flank, it was crying blood tears, and had a brownish coat color, besides the scars, it also had like glass lunged into its side, but the hooves muscles where exposed on one of the hind legs and the front legs, on the others, part of the bone could be seen, the mouth seems to be stitched up, preventing the creature to scream, it had a horn and wings, indicating it was a alicorn, but its horn was broken in half, and the wings didn't had a single feather, one of it only had bones, the other had flesh falling from it. It was a pitiful display, Luna nearly jumped from the creature gaze, when it open its eyes, only darkness could be seen, it walked slowly towards Stormy and Luna, Luna fired a magic spell, but the creature seems to dodge it, Stormy attacked with the steel pipe, the creature was hit, making it move to a side, the creature tried to stab Stormy and Luna with its broken horn, Stormy dodge the blow, Luna used her wooden table as shield, making the creature get stuck, Stormy took advantage of this and charged another magic blow, the creature got hit making it get unstuck, stormy magic was running short, the creature jumped to trust its horn on him, Luna intervened, tackling the monster, the creature grew angry and turned around, hitting Luna table with it's sharp bones of its wing, Stormy attacked again with his steel pipe, until the creature no longer moved.

"Thanks Luna, this one I didn't see it before" Stormy replied " nice way to use the wooden table as shield "

"T-thanks…. I learn it from a game" Luna said a little blush appeared on her face " Anyway, if the creature came from that kiosk, maybe the key is in there " Luna affirmed

Stormy when to check the kiosk, as a matter of fact a bloodstained key was on there, next to a green apple, Stormy eat the red apple to recover a little amount of his magic and stored the key, it reads " Castle Dungeons ", so this was the key from the Dungeons, Stormy already wasn't liking the looks of this, Luna knew the castle more that him, so when he showed her the key, she took him to the dungeons entrance, the entrance to the dungeons was, from the Castle Garden, going to the Royal Main Hall, then the Guards Tower, and next to it, is the Armory with the Dungeons entrance, Stormy noticed that Luna did not wanted to proceed.

"Stormy…. Im sorry, but I will not go there" Luna said

"Why?" Stormy questioned "is due to the metallic echo in the Armory you heard earlier?" Stormy remember Luna's words when he came to the castle

"No…is not that… is just…"Luna was having problems in saying her reasons " the dungeons according to my sister are where the most evil and dangerous ponies face their fate, she told me to never go down there, only the guards are allow there "

She was right, even since he was a Lunar guard, he had access to the dungeons, but he never actually had to go down there, most of the time, Noirstar or Shinning Armor takes the ruffians he catch and take it from there, this was actually the first time he had to go to the dungeon, of all the worst places for a twisted castle to visit, this was going to be the worst of all experiences, Luna could enter the Armory with him, but she could not enter the dungeon, both ponies entered the Armory, most of the armors where damaged and rusted, they could not be used as weapons, but there was something to use, it was a rusted but solid steel pipe, around 1 meter long, the same long as Stormy's pipe, but unlike the other pipe, it looked more old, and it had a sharp end, Luna picked up, to use it as weapon, both ponies inspected the area, and there was no metallic echo… it was time to split up, much to the white stallion disapproval.

"I know Luna you won't go to the dungeons, so here is a suggestion, can you wait for me on the main Lobby?" Stormy asked the princess

"I will… but how will I detect the monsters?" Luna questioned

"Hmmm… here" Stormy said as he took out his radio from the saddlebag

"A radio? " Luna took it and stored it on her saddlebags

"it emit static if a monster get closer, I had confirm it, so you can use it to avoid monsters" Stormy said

"Ok… I will contact you if I find something "Luna finishes replying

The Alicorn quickly exited the Armory, seems she was really frightened of the dungeons… perhaps something happen down there?, Stormy also exited the Armory and used the Dungeons key to open the big metallic door. There was a big Staircase that goes down, by the looks of things it was better to use the lantern for now, whatever it was on the dungeon, he was going to use every last drop of magic, as he turned the lantern on with his magic, he picked up with his mouth and continue forward. The place looked really rusted, and most walls had a reddish color, some rocks where still attached to the walls, and metal form them where exposed.

Once he reached the cells from the dungeons, a nasty smell kick In, it was almost the same as the one from the kitchen dishes, but more stronger, most of the cells had the locks destroyed and could not be opened, inside of the cells, seems there was bodies of ponies, most of them showed several wounds, indicating torture by stabbing or electrical shocks, also, there was a old fashioned guillotine, a whip and a butcher's knife?, what kind of dungeon is that one?, there was one cell however that catch Stormy Attention, it was a very big one, one out of 3 empty cells, on the section, it had a plate that reads "Maximum Security - Tyrants against Equestria - ", inside of it a Statue was placed, it was a draconequus statue…the Stallion was already not looking good at that Statue, it had two notes attached

"This is Discord, Spirit of Chaos as Disharmony, due to some problems, we had to place him in the dungeons until further notice, if you need more information, ask the princess Celestia " said one of the notes

"That's a note from Shinning Armor, so he did carried Discord over the castle dungeons meanwhile Celestia put him back on the Royal Garden…. Wait… holds your horses, why she keeps him here?" Stormy questioned Celestia decision "wait, there is another page here "

The other page, reads "Elegy of Chaos" and just by the name of the song, Stormy was not liking it one bit, it was a page from the book of harmony, the song description says that could control other ponies or even create copies of yourself to do different task, including attacking others, but the longer the effect is used, the more the user gets corrupted, it was a double edge song and the amount of magic was huge, Stormy stored it on the book and place them on his saddlebags, there was no way he will be playing that song, he continue searching on the dungeon, there was a passage that leads to another cells block, but it reads " Thieves ", but next to the word it was written " your section " in bloody letters, Stormy swallowed a little scared and walked on the block, most of the cells had the doors busted, but from one, a Ceiling filly hopped on his back, it had the Cyan suit again, the Stallion shake it off, making the creature lose its grip on him, Stormy prepared a magic blast and hit the monster, it took 2 shots to kill it, as Stormy was drawing closer to the end of the hallway, he manage to see 3 cells open, one had a energy drink and what it looks like a drawing, in the drawing, there where 2 sad ponies in front of a grave, could Mistshine have draw this?, he took the drawing on his saddlebags, the other cell contained bandages, so he could treat his wounds or Luna's if need it, and the last one had the Key to the Throne Room, he found the key, what in Equestria was doing there?, as soon as Stormy placed the key on his saddlebags, a loud metallic clack was heard, like when you close a gate really strong, the Stallion turned around, only to find the door to the cell locked, he tried to open it, but it was surrounded by barbed wire, he could not open it, Stormy moved the lantern to see more deeper in the cell, the was a message on a plate, it read " Reserved for - The Thief of The Night " the name of the criminal could not be read, Stormy tried to call Luna with his ocarina, but that is when he noticed… the cell itself was magically enchanted to prevent magic usage, he picked up his steel pipe and place it on his back….

"Trapped like a rat…. I never thought I will see THIS side of the dungeon " Stormy said to himself " oh well… even here, there must be a way out, I just going to have to find it "

Stormy started to search the cell, there was some drawings made on the walls, looked like the fillies, but normal, there was a hole in the wall, not enough big to escape, he tried to see in it, only a big empty space where inside, something shinned on there… the hole was big enough to bear his hoof, so Stormy extended it, and tried to reach a object it was there, once he got it, he quickly pulled it out… his shock was huge when he saw the object… it was a Fluttershy doll…

"Wait… this is Mistshine doll! " Stormy panicked, as he saw on one of the doll hooves Mistshine signature

A metallic echo started to sound, drawing closer to him… Stormy slowly turned around, holding the doll tightly, it was kind of hard to see, but he manage to see a silhouette of a big pony… each step made the metal of the floor sound loud…and its weapon was leaving a bloody trail, Stormy freaked out, it was the Iron Mask Pony, he didn't had anything to defend himself besides his steel pipe, but there was no way he could move or dodge by the narrow cell, as the silhouette raised its weapon, Stormy jumped to the rusty bed, the pony weapon broke the cell door with the wire, Stormy started to scream as the creature grabbed him, and took him out, Stormy closed his eyes, waiting for his ultimate death, when he just felt a slap in his face, as the lantern felt from his mouth, he could see the pony holding him… it was the Princess Luna, much to her disappointed, to see his guard being scared to death

"Stormy, pull yourself together!" The Princess raised her voice

"P-princess?!, what in the name of Equestria are you doing here?" Stormy seems confused that Luna actually had gone down to the dungeon

"You took too long to retrieve the key that I came down here… besides…. I encounter some….unpleasant things" Luna voice sounded quiet at the last part

"You almost gave me a heart attack, I thought you where the Iron Mask Pony…."Stormy replied

"Iron Mask Pony?, what kind of pony is that one?" Luna questioned his companion

" I don't have a idea, as far as I have seen him, he is invulnerable to magic, he doesn't feel any pain, I hit him several times with a pipe and it didn't work, and….." Stormy remembered the pony the iron mask had killed as he was telling Luna it's description" it killed the Archives receptionist"

"….. And he is after you…. Is it not?" Luna understood perfectly

"Yeah… I still don't know why, anyway, I found the key, we better get out" Stormy replied to Luna

"Ok, here, thanks for the radio" said Luna, returning Stormy's radio.

The two ponies returned quickly to the main lobby, on the way there, Luna looked at Discord Statue, like if she was making sure he wasn't going to break free, thank Celestia he didn't, Stormy still was trying to figure out how Luna knew that the Iron Mask Pony was following him, once Stormy and the Princess reached the second floor of the Castle Main Lobby, as Stormy used the key on the door, it opened without any problem, and both ponies entered… The Throne Room looked really dark… the stained glass that told the travels of the Elements of Harmony where covered in blood, and most of them where switched, the one showing Spike victory on the Cristal Empire, was replaced by the little dragon unconscious and King Sombra with the Blood-soaked Crystal heart on his mouth, and the one with the Mane 6 Defeating Discord, was changed… and it was the most perturbing one… it had both, Stormy and Luna in it, behind them was Twilight Sparkle, and Discord floated above while he held some puppet threads, that lead towards the remaining elements of harmony, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Even Rainbow Dash showed a grey color, while only Twilight was with color… Luna felt like she was seeing a bad dream

"That glass…. That… is…"Luna could not find words

"That would have happened to Twilight if Celestia haven't send her, the old friendship reports" Stormy answered

"How did you know that?" Luna asked

"Pinkie Pie told me" the stallion replied

"Well done… Stormy…." A voice spoke

Both ponies heard a voice coming from the Throne, Stormy turned off the lamp, store it away and used the illumination spell, on Celestia´s Throne, a Lunar Guard was sitting, it was a white coat guard with a silver and green armor, indicating being high rank, also had a sword with blue moon designs, only reserved for the biggest of the Princess Luna Royal Guard, but what it was more perturbing however, what that he didn't had his helmet on, revealing his horn and Upward mane, a greenish color with some dark cyan in it, it was his friend….and superior officer…. Noirstar, Stormy already knew he was a changeling, but he wanted to believe in his friendship, so Stormy placed himself in front of the princess, Noirstar was sitting on a bloody throne.

"Stormy Brave…. My good buddy… thanks for taking Luna to here, Dismiss" Noirstar ordered

"Sorry buddy, not this time… what happened to Celestia?"

"hmph…. She is around" Noirstar replied

"Really?!, she is alive?" Luna said happily

"Not… when I say around…. "Said Noirstar taking a bloody horn " I mean, literally… around"

Luna covered her hooves, as Stormy just stood there in shock… a quick focus on the parts of the throne made Luna cry to no end…. Her sister wings are on each side of the throne, they still had some flesh and blood, and her armor was used as a decorative item on top of the throne…. Luna's tears turned into anger as she shoot him with a magical blast, much to the princess surprise, Noirstar rejected that magical blast.

As he launched a spell, Stormy used himself as shield to protect her, receiving the blast, he hit the wall, Luna demand him to stop.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS GUARD?! " Luna yelled using her royal Canterlot voice

"Simple your highness, I never was on your side" he replied, crying some tears, tears ignored by the princess

"Princes…. He is a changeling" Stormy told the princess as he was getting up

"A Changeling?!" Luna reacted surprised

"How did you figure it out?" Noirstar asked

"By your journal… I understand why you are confused, your memories of the last 4 months and all you have experienced are way too powerful to ignore" Stormy talked, trying to convince his friend " I don't care if you are a changeling, you are still my friend"

"you are a good pony Stormy… sadly for you… I can't disobey my Queen orders…. Give me Princess Luna, and I will spare your life" Noirstar replied, decided to fight

"you will have to kill me first to hurt the princess, Luna Step back" Stormy demanded Luna

"Are you crazy?!, I will not let you fight alone, he killed my sister!" Luna's words where filled with anger

"I don't have time for this" Noirstar said, charging his horn

Noirstar using his changeling magic created a green fire barrier that prevented Luna to interfere, every magic attack she launched was automatically returned to her, Stormy was alone in this fight, against his friend and superior, Luna could only watch…

"Once you are out of the way, Luna will follow and then my Queen can take Equestria" Noirstar said drawing his sword

"Not if I can help it, what happened to you Noirstar?" Stormy defended himself with the pipe

Being Noirstar his superior, Stormy was in great disadvantage, each time his pipe hit his friend sword, memories of their time together as teammates started to flow in Stormy mind, making it harder for him to attack him, Noirstar on the other hoof, seems that didn't had any problem, he continue to attack Stormy with everything he had, but he was fighting still in his pony form, kind strange for a changeling, to fight another not in his original form, Stormy blocked again

"What's the matter guard?, I though you said you will fight" Noirstar laugh

"I can't fight my friend!" Stormy hesitated to battle

"You still don't get it do you?, I am not your friend!, I am a changeling" Noirstar attacked

"Stormy you must fight!" Luna tried to convince the Stallion

"Luna I can't, he is still my friend!, there must be another way, THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER CHOISE!" Stormy screamed

As hard as it sounds, Noirstar took advantage of this opportunity to stab Stormy with his sword on his chest, as Stormy coughed blood, he could see his superior Eyes…they where filled with regret, but only one of them, the other side of his face had already turned into his Changeling form, seems he was trying to contain his own original form… but it was a little too late… as Noirstar draw the sword out of Stormy body, he collapsed on the floor, the green fire ring disappeared, Stormy could not move… Noirstar walked near the Princess, she fired her magic blast as well attacked him with her pipe, Noirstar took the hit, and Luna noticed the same state of his face… one filled with regret and other with hate and bloodlust

"How…. How could you kill my sister?" Luna asked… not fearing the foe in front of her

"Equestria has more love, remember?, the love for you was strong enough to feed me… and Stormy's too…" Noirstar almost felt bad for saying

"He what?" Luna could only look at Stormy body

"never mind that princess… you can ask Celestia later on the other side

Noirstar tried to cut Luna's head, as the Sword almost touched her neck, a white barrier appeared on her, Noirstar not surprised continue to attack telling her, that it wont hold for long, but she told him it was not her barrier, Noirstar locked behind and noticed Stormy again, but there was something strange on him… his horn was emitting magic… Stormy could hear some voices in his mind, a fragment of his past, he remembered himself as a little colt always watching the moon from his window, he could see it for hours on end, he remembered something that her big Sister Sunnybreeze told him, he was still on a black word, where he could only see her.

"You know bro…. when you where born, there was a beautiful full moon on the sky" Said the big mare " and you giggle very cutely when dad showed you the moon"

"for real?, does that mean I can became a Luna Knight?" Said a little colt voice

"yes brother…you will, you maybe even met Luna… that is… if she is still the Princess" Sunnybreeze seems to remember Nightmare Moon old tale

"She is still the princess!, and I will become her knight!" said the little white colt very enthusiastic

"I….I remember now…. Thanks…..Big Sister…" Stormy smiled as he got up… his horn was glowing with a more pure white aura

Stormy slowly got himself up, despise of his wound, the glow on his horn started to flash like a little star… or more precise… Moondust, a very special kind of magic, that only unicorns born under the full moon can perform, that dust started to make stormy to ignore the pain the wound was causing him or even heal him for a short time, his eyes where still white, like if his mind was not on his body, Noirstar noticed the same dust on the shield that protected Luna, Stormy was casting that protective spell, he quickly ran towards him to kill him for good, when Stormy pupils appeared again, he reacted in time enough to dodge the attack, Noirstar was almost joyful that his foe was still alive.

"Moondust…I heard that unicorns capable of that special kind of magic where almost gone" Noirstar stated

"it seems that not… and maybe, that could be the reason I could perform the old songs… is a very old magic… right Luna?" Stormy replied, looking at the princess, he was hopping that she would now something

"Seems you have a few surprises" She stated "yes… that is a old magic, before I was banished it was still In use "Luna replied

"It doesn't matter, you will still die" Noirstar launched to another attack

"Not if I can help it "Stormy replied

This time, Stormy, with still regret in his heart, he knew this time, he would have to attack him, and most likely kill him, he still did not wanted, but will have too, he cant keep the shield barrier up and his healing spell at the same time, since the moon dust consumes too much magic, he attacked Noirstar with every move he knew, his foe, blocked every hit, until Stormy found a opening, he attacked Noirstar legs when he was raising his sword, that was enough to making him lost balance and hit the floor, Stormy then hit him several times with the pipe, Noirstar made a magic repulsion, making the stallion to back away, Stormy noticed the damage on his face… his changeling features started to show, like his wings full of holes and one of his legs, with black color and holes in them, seems the longer the fight, the longer Noirstar was transforming, he launched several magic fireballs to the Throne Room roof and pieces of concrete fall on Stormy, he dodged the failing pieces, Noirstar took advantage of this and he has moved towards Luna, Stormy saw his chance when Noirstar raised his sword to try to break the barrier, Stormy put all his remaining magic on the Spell and the barrier changed to spikes, those spikes stabbed Noirstar on his torso, Stormy quickly moved towards him and hit him with the steel pipe, Noirstar was loosing too much blood, since the barrier that Stormy made, was no longer up, Luna took advantage of the situation and hit also Noirstar with the pipe, the changeling lost his sword, Stormy picked up and quickly give Noirstar one final attack, this time the sword got stained on his blood, making him fall on the floor… a siren was heard of the distance, as Stormy was already starting to loose grip on his Moondust magic… the healing spell did not work fully, so his wound just started to spit blood out of his body, he collapsed on the floor, something that took a while for Luna to notices, since she was only looking at the defeated traitor, once she noticed Stormy, she tried to keep him awake, Noirstar spoke one final time…

"He…. So…. The student beat the master… thank you….Stormy…. and Princess" Noirstar spoke very weakened

"Thanks for what?" Luna replied

"For… stopping me… I can die in peace now….." Those where Noirstar last words

"…" Luna said nothing as she looked again to Stormy "Guard!, get up, there must be something I can do! " Luna was trying to keep Stormy from closing his eyes

"L-Luna" Stormy was trying to say something "Stormy was loosing too much blood to talk

"Please, don't say more… try to stay awake" Luna didn't know what to do

"My…saddlebag…. i…. Luna….. I" Stormy tried Luna something

"Yes?...Stormy?" Luna noticed, that the stallion temperature was starting to drop, and fast

"… I…. always….. " Stormy took with his hooves out his ocarina… but then, he closed his eyes, fainting

"No!, please, for the love of Equestria!, open your eyes!" Those where Luna plea to Stormy to wake up, everything was loosing its twisted version and it was returning to the " normal " version of the castle, but Stormy was just laying there, fainted, Luna was starting to cry, why she was crying for a stallion?, is that he is the only one alive on that hell?, that he gave his live to save hers?, no, it was more than that, Luna was trying her best to stop crying, but she couldn't, she remembered something with Stormy last words, Luna had the skill to see other ponies dreams, and Stormy ones where no exception, she knew what Stormy tried to say to her, as she remember seeing the dreams of a young colt when she was still exiled on the moon, during her exile, those dreams where her only way to see Equestria, and to still keep hope that when she returns back to normal, no pony will fear her, on those dreams, the young colt always was near her when she was needed him, she took interest on this and every week or so, she saw Stormy dreams, how she could be so blind?, each of Stormy dreams where not filled for desires for him only, like rule the word, or being super powerful, instead of that, they where filled with the best of wishes for her, trying to convince that she was still loved in Equestria, once those memories came to her head, she curse for the first time, she cursed her ability to see other ponies dreams, one of the few ponies that knew about her and didn't fear her, even if she was Nightmare Moon, was dying in front of her

"Please!, don't die!, don't leave me alone!, I don't want to be alone again! "

Luna started to cry as she said those words. The ocarina was lying on the floor


	5. Chapter 5 - Moonlight Struggle -

"Please!, don't die!, don't leave me alone!, I don't want to be alone again! "

Luna was desperate, her mind was losing grip on the reality of the situation, she keep trying to make Stormy react, to open his eyes, but he was too wounded and weak to listen to her, Luna was hurt, not by the fact that the only colt that was there for her in this moments was dying, but also, because she was so blind to his feelings, yes, she knew what Stormy and Noirstar meant, Stormy loved the Princess, that is why Noirstar was able to nearly kill him, being a changeling, he had easy access to Stormy Love for the princess, as the princess was reflecting about this, more tears where falling from her eyes, as she remembered one specific dream she visited from Stormy, when she was still exiled.

She remembered a particular nightmare, she was on her home, Canterlot Castle, but everything was dark and each step she made, a soft sound was heard, she look down only to see the corpses of her guards and even the servants, all of them, burned to death, her mane and tail was stained with blood, and the most terrifying thing for her, is that she was normal, she saw a puddle of the blood of the victims, and the reflection was what she feared the most, the reflection, was Nightmare Moon, she started to cry, when she felt a hug on her legs, when she turned around, it was a little white colt, with a Ocarina and swords cutie mark

"Don't cry princess, please don't "said the little colt

"But…I killed them all, they fear me, and attacked me, I killed them because of that, this is what I will do when I return…. Everypony fear me, so everypony will die by my hoof "Luna said, crying

"no princess, not everypony fear you, on the contrary, they remember you and love you, nopony has forgotten you " The little colt said to Luna, still hugging her

"But…" Luna was still confused

"Luna… I never fear you, I am waiting for your safe return "the little colt said "even if everypony turn against you, I will not leave you alone "he said

"Why is that little one?" Luna asked, feeling a little better

"Because… I really like you Princess, you don't deserve to be treated bad, or to be feared, you bring a beautiful night that everypony enjoys, even if they are asleep, specially me" The colt replied

"I…" Luna cried, but this tears where not sad ones

Luna hugged the little colt, as she saw her reflection in the puddle of blood once more, she noticed that the blood was no longer there, she was no longer in Canterlot, she was on a city, a big city, with too many lights in the middle of her beautiful moon, she was in Manehattan, the big metropolis of Equestria, the Little colt was wearing a cyan suit, but only his face was visible, he hold Luna's hoof, and took her to the roof, where they could see the moon and the stars perfectly well, during that dream, the little colt showed Luna how did the ponies live their lives not only during daytime, but also in nighttime, she didn't had knowledge of nocturne ponies during her time before Nightmare Moon. But when they get to the mayor office, the dream usually ends, it always ends there, like if a part of Stormy's mind, had terrible memories on that building.

Reality started to kick in, Taking Luna out of that memory, that building in his dreams could explain why she wasn't able to see Stormy's Nightmares for the past 4 months. she saw her hooves, she was hugging Stormy tightly, trying to prevent losing temperature, ashamed, she let go the hug and saw her hooves, they where bloodstained, he was not going to survive if the wounds where not healed, she looked at Stormy's ocarina, that's it!, Stormy knew the ancient songs, and so does the princess, if she could perform the healing song… she searched on Stormy's saddlebags, and she found out the Book of Ancient Songs of Harmony, she opened it up, to find out the pages that the stallion had collected so far, they where magically restored to the book, so is hard to tell that they where once torn apart from the book., she searched the current pages, hoping to find the right one, from the 7 pages collected so far, the Song of Refresh was the one she was looking for, her magic skill could perform the song effects perfectly, so she levitated the instrument, and started playing it, she felt how her magic was being drained, and redirected to Stormy's wounds, his flesh was slowly regenerating and his damaged organs was being repaired, the song itself was sweet and kind of sad at the same time, maybe reflecting the exchange of all magic to save others?, either way, seems the song was working well, since the wounds healed up perfectly, once the song ended, Luna started to breathe heavy, noticing the lack of her magic, seems that Stormy was still knocked out could, but his temperature was slowly recovering, she was thinking of carrying him to the Canterlot Hospital, but she couldn't without her magic.

"Stormy….. please…. Open your eyes"

Luna plead to Stormy once again, but seems it will take a while for him to regain consciousness, she searched on the stallion saddlebags, since her magic was drained, she will not be able to perform the illumination spell, so she took Stormy's lantern, she also took Celestia´s tiara, and place it on her saddlebags, after what happened, is better for her to keep it, she also kept Stormy's ocarina, just in case.

Meanwhile he wakes up, she searched the throne for the spare key, she hesitated for a moment, remembering the Throne aspect in the " other " world, but right now it looks perfectly normal, she found out the key under the seat. The Castle had a more normal aspect, she opened the door to the throne room and searched the castle for something for use before leaving with the stallion, she checked the kitchen, and the area was…. Normal, it didn't had any pony body parts being cooked, kind of strange, well for both Luna and Stormy, seeing this normal was a good thing at least, she checked the fridge, and she found out a Zap Apple Pie Slice, this was enough to recover either Stormy or Luna total magic, so she carefully packed up the Zap apple pie, and store it on her saddlebags, maybe she and stormy could share it?, after the kitchen, she tried to check the guards room, but the doorknob felt, the door was damaged, she also tried to see if she could find something on the Armory, but the door was also broken, seems that when the castle returned to normal, most of the doors got damaged, making it impossible to search those areas, but she could exit the gardens and enter the Royal Quarters, she didn't wanted to leave stormy for too long, so she rechecked the tower once more, she tried her room, but the door was locked again… from the inside, the last place she tried was Celestia Bedroom, this door opened normally, nothing unusual… just the fireplace, the bed where she rest and where she writes the letters to Twilight Sparkle, even the Stars curtain was on the wall, but she did found out something on her sister bedroom, it was a page, Luna read it, it says Unicorn's Path, the song description says that it reveals hidden things in the room, also it provides a temporal amount of magic, like a boost, even if the user didn't had any energy left, Luna took Stormy's ocarina and started playing the song she found, she felt like a little spark on her horn, that's when the magic of the song worked, and a curtain started to shine with little sparks of light, she checked where the sparks told her, and found out 2 scrolls, one is a magic scroll to increase the magic blast power and shield duration, but… the last one, contained information about a certain incident in Manehattan, why Celestia kept it hidden?

"Tragedy in Manehattan… a group of 3 ponies where found killed in a small house on New Orange, the victims where a adult stallion, a little mare and a filly… only 2 survivors found…. Names… "Luna froze as she saw the survivor's names, only the first letter was visible it was a B "oh….. Dear…." She continues her reading "the younger colt was hospitalized, currently…." Luna stopped "i…. I can't read anymore "

Luna left that report where it was… the more she read it, the more painful was, maybe Celestia kept it to find the culprit?, either way, she exited her sister room quickly and returned to the gardens, but then… she noticed something… the fog was more dense, also it had a like a violet tone, she noticed that a purple smoke was floating nearby… that instantly froze her… she took out the pipe and ran towards the door, all she could hear was hoofsteps, more and more closer to her, and the more she ran, the more the purple smoke was surrounding her… she could not find the door in the middle of that dense fog, she attack with her pipe, making the smoke to take a few steps back, she never had felt so much fear before, she flapped her wings, taking altitude, but something catch her and made her hit the ground, she saw her back hooves, and she say that the smoke had hold her… the smoke slowly was covering her legs, Luna Started to scream, scream in terror as the smoke took form… a form of a Black Female Alicorn, with deep white eyes, it seems to smile as it opened her mouth, ready to trust its fangs on Luna's neck.

"No….. get away!, get away from me!, GET AWAAAAAAAAY! " At the last, she used her royal Canterlot voice, hopping somepony will hear her

But her voice echoed through the emptiness, the creature moved its head towards her, Luna took out her wooden table as shield, by miracle it worked, the creature lost concentration and let go the grip on Luna's legs, she took this opportunity to use her remaining amount of magic, there was only one thing she could do, try the illumination spell on the creature, or use the Unicorn's Path song to find the way to the door, the gardens never felt so big, she took her chances and played the song, this time, the notes echoed hard, she felt no additional increase of magic, but noticed the little sparks in the middle of the dense fog, she follow the sparks, and she could still hear the smoke coming towards her, but this time, as she was running, slowly the fog was losing the violent color, and was returning to its white color, seems she was heading in the right direction, as she noticed the door, she ran more quickly and entered the Castle, once inside she locked the door.

"There is no way in Equestria, that i will be opening that door again!"

Luna quickly exited the hallway she was…it took her to the main hall, she started to worry about Stormy so she ran to the Throne room, as she entered the room, she noticed that Stormy was still on the floor, she, tired, walked to him, she sit next to his side, and closed her eyes.

"This is not the time…. To be sleeping… my friend "Luna said

"uuuuggh… my head hurts like a dozens of apples trees being kicked at once " Stormy finally replied, opening his eyes

Finally Stormy had woke up, she instantly hugged him, Stormy, kind of confused, could just only blush, Luna realizing that she was hugging him, ashamed again, broke the hug, she was relieved that the song worked, Stormy got up, both ponies noticed Noirstar corpse, this time, it was completely turned into a Changeling… Luna noticed the expression on Stormy face, Stormy ripped one of the curtains of the palace, and used it to covered the body of his former friend, Luna told him that she found out the key… and some unpleasant things, including that purple smoke, Stormy was listening to Luna carefully.

"After the song was used I was able to find a way to the door" Luna told

"Great, now we have a smoke following us… after we get my bro out of that Hospital, we need to find someplace safe"

"We could try Manehattan" Luna suggested

Stormy froze for a minute, why in the hay she wanted to go to Manehattan?, The most cosmopolitan city in all Equestria, either way, she was right in one thing, staying in Canterlot could be fatal if that purple smoke had the ability to make you lose your way, if each time to find the correct path, they have to use the Unicorn's Path song, Stormy and Luna will be losing magic constantly due to that smoke, The princess give Stormy his ocarina back and the song page she found, but she kept the lantern, also, both of them read the magic scroll to increase their magic, after reading, Stormy picked up Noirstar Sword, it was better to keep it, y may come in handy, both ponies returned to the main lobby and Luna used the key she found, the front doors of the castle opened, allowing them to go outside, they quickly set route to the Canterlot Hospital.

The fog was present everywhere, and it was kind of hard to see, however, they did manage to find the Hospital front doors without much of a problem, once inside of the Hospital, Luna took out her Zap apple pie, it was only one slice though, but Stormy and Luna manage to share it with themselves, each noticed how their magic recovered to its maximum, but they also felt a little extra magic, both ponies searched the reception, since all the doors where locked, kind of strange, Luna manage to find the Hospital map, Stormy took and look and there was a second entrance, Both of them searched for the secondary entrance, it was near the Laundry entrance, once inside, Stormy was starting to look pale

Stormy… are you ok?" Luna asked

"Yes.. I am fine, we better find my brother and get out of here" Stormy was concerned for his little bro

"But, where do you think he is?" Said Luna, as she reviewed the map

"I don't know, I won't be leaving this hospital without him" Stormy stated

Luna wished she could say the same thing about her sister, but it was late for that, the hospital was too big, as both reviewed the map, it seems the hospital had 5 floors and 1 basement floor, they started searching on the first floor director office, but when they got to the hallway, the radio started to emit static, no enemy's could be seen, so Stormy assumed they where ceiling fillies, he shot one magic blast to the ceiling, but there was nothing there, Stormy used the illumination spell, and they found out the same mare from the Canterlot gardens, This time, it was Luna who took the initiative and attacked the creature with her pipe, the creature lost balance a moment, enough time for Stormy to finish it off with Noirstar Sword, they continued to the director office, as they open the door, a little earth pony noticed both the princess and Stormy, and started to run, his cutie mark was a pair of gears with a lightbulb, the little colt ran towards the hallway, leading to the 2F, Stormy ran following the little pony, the princess ran also, Stormy was happy, since he recognized that cutie mark.

"Mistshine!, bro don't run!, it's me, Stormy!" he replied

"Stormy… I don't think he remember you, I mean, he ran away like if he was afraid of you " the Princess mentioned

"I don't care, I will take him out of here!" Stormy was more decided

When they got to the 2F of the Hospital, they saw Mistshine enter a bathroom, Stormy and Luna entered the room, they could hear a soft crying on one of the cabins, both ponies checked each cabin, until they got to one closed from the inside… the crying was a little more soft this time…

"go away" the little voice said

"shhh… is ok… im not going to hurt you" Stormy said, in a kind and concerned voice

"No…go away…he is coming for me" the little voice sounded sadder

"who?... the iron mask pony?" Luna Said to the little voice

"…. Please… miss, sir… go" the little voice beg one more

Stormy remembered the nightmare he had on the Elements of Harmony hallway, so he took out the Fluttershy doll he had, and pressed its belly, the doll released a soft "Yay" , a silence was present, until a sound of unlocking came from the cabin, the little pony extended his hoof to touch the doll, he opened the door fully and took the doll, hugging it, the princess noticed the resemblance, it was in fact, Mistshine Brave, the little bro of her guard… but the strange thing, was that the radio was emitting a very soft static, the little pony hugged Stormy, and he hug him back… the princess was a little happy to see both brothers reunited… but he could be really his brother or just another creature posing as Mistshine?, she could not take from her mind, the soft static the radio was making

"Thank you…. Stormy, I though I lost it" Mistshine replied

"No problem bro, now we need to get out, to Manehattan" Stormy said, relieved to find his bro

"M-m-manehattan?... why do you want to go there?" Mistshine questioned, a little fear could be heard on his voice

"is there something wrong child?, I was the one who suggested the idea" Luna said to the little colt

"it will be safe… I hope "Stormy replied

"NO!, is not safe!" Mistshine screamed, breaking stormy hug "You know what's in there! "

After this, Mistshine ran away, this time he was terrified, both the princess and his brother follow him, when they got to the entrance, they found out that the door was locked from the outside, why his little bro had locked him?, the radio emitted static again, but louder, Stormy and Luna turned around and some creatures where coming closer to them, they where a little different, they had wings, indicating they where Pegasus, but, they had either feathers, or one whole wing missing, they hooves where surrounded in bandages, they had no eyes or mouth, they had its nose and ears bleeding, also, on their flanks, seems like the cutie mark was torn apart, but the more grotesque was that on their backs, they seems to have a tumor shaped like a newborn foal, apparently, controlling them, the creature was clearly a mare, Luna shot a magical bullet, hitting one of the creatures, Stormy attacked using the sword from his friend, taking out one of the creatures, once the radio was silenced, and the creatures defeated, Stormy and Luna searched for a alternative exit.

"So… the secondary entrance is out of question, we can try the main entrance" Luna said

"Ok, then we will have to unlock the doors leading there" Stormy said

As the couple was searching the rooms, on the examination room, the one leading to the reception, was locked by a magic lock, it need a special key, they tried the door leading directly to the reception, but the doorknob felt, there was no way around it, they need the examination room key, both Luna and Stormy agreed to use the elevator to check the floors, since the door leading to the stairs was locked from the other side, they tried floor per floor, but none of them had the hallway door opened, suddenly, after they checked the 4ft floor, the button to the 5ft Floor flashed, Luna Pressed it, and both ponies got up to the last floor, in it, there was a large hallway with opened doors, when the princess and the stallion entered the hallway, the air was a little cold, the windows where broken… but instead of the usual white mist, there was purple… Luna freaked out as she told Stormy to perform the Unicorn's Path so they could find the exit quickly

"Play the Song, PLAY THE SONG!" Luna was worried

"This is the purple mist you talked before… I don't see…" Stormy was interrupted by the Static

"AAAAH! GET AWAY! " Luna screamed

Stormy saw the princess and he nearly jumped from the scare, the purple mist, was actually covering her, but why only her?, the purple mist was more darker than before, Stormy shot a magic blast, but it seems to be feeding it, Stormy started to pull Luna from the mist, as she begged to him to play the song again, Stormy did not hesitated again, and performed the song again, a white and shinning stars started to show the way to the exit, but the mist was not letting go the grip around Luna, Stormy again started to pull, trying to take Luna away from that purple mist, for him, it was kind of sticky, like goo, or something similar on his hooves, but for the princess, it was like air, just that more tighter, struggling to suffocate her, and preventing her from moving, half of Luna body was surrounded as the same figure from before showed up, the Black Alicorn, Stormy was not letting go Luna's hooves, the Black Alicorn this time…. Was only watching

"Stormy!, go!, you will not take me out in time!" Luna begged, losing hope, she had only her head and front hooves out

"…" the Black alicorn only seemed to smile at the princess attitude

"forget it!, I will not leave you!" Stormy started to concentrate on the Moondust magic

"…" The Black Alicorn did not open her mouth until it got closer to Luna ears… then she heard a very… but not so pleasant familiar voice "The Night….. Will last….. Forever!"

Luna instantly started to cry, as she heard those words, Stormy heard them too, so he prepared his Spiked shield on Luna, the shield reached and created spines to make the mist go away, it worked, because the black alicorn forgot about Stormy, making her lost the concentration on the mist, Luna fainted from the fear, Stormy carried her on his back and Started to run towards the exit, marked by the little stars of the ancient song, Stormy kept his magic going around the princess, as he ran, they passed a big double door, as soon as he passed it , he locked the door, he could hear the black alicorn trying to take the door down, Stormy took the stairs down to the 4F, in there, no monsters where present, the radio didn't emit static, taking advantage of the magic boost that he has left, he used the unicorn path song again, it seems that besides revealing hidden things, it also works well to find places with no monsters or with items, the little stars appeared on one specific door, it was room 410, Stormy entered, still with the unconscious princess on his back, there was a bed in good shape, a green apple on the table, and it seems that a page of something, Stormy placed the princess on the bed and read the page, it was a patient description, it reads

"Patient suffers from a heavy blow on his head, his Central neurologic system, actually shows a hemorrhage, indicating the severe blow he has, is unlikely to know when he could wake up, but for the records, his chances of recovery are very low, since his cerebral cortex is actually damaged, Patient - has been declared in Coma "

"…. This medical report…. The name is not legible… but…." Stormy said….

"Whaaa!, brother! " a voice cried

He turned around, only to see a semitranslucent colt, crying next to a doctor, the colt was him, when he had the same age as Pinkie Pie, on that time, he was wearing a cyan suit, on the bed where Luna was resting, there was another semitranslucent little colt, connected to several machines, it had bandages on his head and he was holding the Fluttershy doll, the little colt had the same size as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but maybe a little more older, almost as old as Featherweight

"I am sorry… we did the best we could… but he is a coma…" the doctor said to the ghostly stormy

"Will he wake up?" the ghostly stormy asked

"only if he has the strength, but… only a miracle could save him" the doctor replied

"Nooooo!, brother!, Mistshine, please!, open your eyes!, don't leave me alone little bro!"

"Mistshine…"

Stormy tried to place his hoof on Mistshine Ghost, if it could be called like that, but as soon as he did that, he, the doctor and even his younger self disappeared, he seems to remember something about his brother… could those ghost be memories from him? Either way… he felt like if his heart was stabbed by a dagger or something similar, he haven't saw his brother in too much time, maybe his brother not longer want him?, the princess started to wake up, making the stallion feel a little relief, Luna felt Stormy's hooves, like if he was out of himself or something

"Stormy…. Hello?, I am awake, say something" The princess asked

"Something" Stormy replied, not paying much attention

"… did something happened when I was unconscious? " the princess asked again to her companion

Stormy told Luna what he saw, and gave her the medical report, she was confused, if Mistshine is in a Coma, how in the wild name of Equestria was doing moving around the Hospital, without any problems?, not only that, but his appearance and personality was strange, Mistshine had the body of a normal Colt, but not as tall as Stormy (since Stormy was royal size, nearly as tall as Cadence or Celestia), but his personality was of a Little Foal, that's what Luna found strange about Mistshine, she got up, forgetting about the previous encounter with the mist.

"Stormy… if this is correct… the colt that we saw…" Luna tried to convince Stormy to do not follow his brother " I have a bad feeling about him, I think you should not follow him"

"Princess… how can you say that?" Stormy felt like betrayed by the princess words "he is my only family, I will not leave him here alone, even if he is not my brother, I will find the truth" Stormy sound determined.

"… I see…." Luna seems to sound sad " ok, I will help then, sorry if I held you up "

"by the way… what in the name of the moon was that alicorn?" Stormy asked, referring to the Black Alicorn from earlier

Luna froze cold, should she tell her about her?, but…after all they have gone already, she felt she can trust him, specially since he already trusted her his brother condition according to the report, as both ponies exited the room searching the whole floor for the Examination room key, she started to told him her recent nightmares, she told him that, there was times that she was afraid to look herself in the mirror, because, each time she look at it, she saw Nightmare Moon reflection on it, some other times, in her nightmares she saw herself being trapped by the purple mist, turning her again into the wicked mare or darkness, and hurting everypony she was in close range, including her sister, her recent dreams where not much different that the ones she had while in exile, just that this time, they were more frequent and more darker, recently, almost one week, before Stormy talked to Princess Celestia, she had one of the most horrific nightmares, Stormy listened to the princess.

In the recent nightmare, she was in a Hospital, very similar to Canterlot Hospital, but in that one, she was only following a long and almost interminable hallway, she was constantly hearing some whispering along the way, each voice said "turn back ", "please stop ", "don't do it", but when she was near a big double door with moon carvings in it, she heard a last voice… saying "only suffering and despair awaits you…. My little pony", as she opened the door, only a huge darkness awaited her, she walked further into the big dark room, until the door closed by itself, a little light was in the middle, and when she touched it… she felt her hooves burning, everything became clear and she could see perfectly, she was burning because she was ripping Celestia heart out of her, her sister had a shocked and sad look on her face, she screamed as she saw this, but her voice was not heard, instead of a scream, a psychotic laugh escaped from her mouth, she closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, she was not on Canterlot, she was on a big white place, her hooves still had Celestia heart, she let it go… making it hit the ground, as soon as it touched the floor, the whole placed changed from white to red, and she again, felt her hooves burning, the blood on the floor was climbing on her, melting her flesh, she started to Fly, but the same problem happened with her wings, they where the first ones to melt, she could see her internal organs falling from her body, she screamed as hard as she could, closing her eyes, waiting for death to give her a rest… but, when she opened, her eyes again, she was again, in a long hallway… this time, the floor was like grass, as she walked, a darkness behind her started to chase her, she ran and flew as hard as she could, but she could not got away, when the darkness catch her, she felt like if somepony had made a hole in her back and exited from her torso…she felt a hard thrush, and when she looked down, she saw a black hoof… holding her still beating heart, when she saw behind her, the Black Alicorn was smiling, needless to say, her coat color was a very dark violet, almost next to black, just that she had her eyes missing, and had multiple dark red areas on her body, indicating she recently got bloodstained, she had a broken green with blue armor, and helmet, her mane and tail where grey colored with white sparks, but her mouth had fangs, her cutie mark was a Red full moon with grey clouds surrounding it, as the creature took a bite from Luna's neck, she started to pull, hopping to rip the Princess head off. As she let one final scream, the Nightmare usually ends after that

Stormy felt chills going down on his spine, after hearing the princess nightmares, more concerning the Black Alicorn. He feared that, that mare would be something similar to the Iron Mask Pony that is following him, and if that is the case, neither he nor Luna could defeat it, he hugged the princess, much to her disapproval… but strangely enough, she let Stormy hug her, she let go a soft cry on him, like if she was needing somepony to cry n this moment, once Luna finished her story, both of them finished checking all the remaining rooms, but all they could find was a green apple, some bandages and what it seems to be wrench, it had Mistshine signature.

"This is my brother wrench" Stormy stored the wrench on his saddlebags

"a wrench?, do your brother works with machines?" Luna asked her companion

"as a matter of fact, yes…. He does" Stormy told the princess "he is inventor; he can create things using steel and sometimes wood, he is a genius in much things… but" Stormy stopped

"But?" Luna was a little concerned

"he has a medical condition, his body may be of a full grown stallion, but his mind is still of a little colt" Stormy let some tears escape

"so that's why he looks like a little colt when we found him" Luna was thinking as she saw Stormy… it must has been painful to him to remember his brother condition, but staying away won't fix anything either, she advised Stormy to find his brother quickly. Telling him that if his brother love him, he will forgive him, once they finished with the 4F, they searched the 3F, there where some monsters on that Floor, Luna shot a couple of magical bullets to them, Stormy used his brother wrench on the Ceiling Filly, taking out theirs screws on their heads, the creatures immediately died from bleeding, on the 3F, in one of the rooms, they found a page from the Book of Harmony, it read "Celestia´s Song" the song description reads that the song allows to raise the sun if Celestia is not capable of doing it or if she was too tired to bring it out, also, it says that the song could weaken black magic creatures, it seems that the song was made in case that the princess where injured, but as a little bonus, it can weaken some enemies, as Stormy started to play the song, a Armored Shadow came, Luna shot a light based magic, but it didn't work, the creature shield himself with the armor, Stormy finished performing the song, and the Armored Shadow froze, literally, it was just standing there, as if something was holding him, Luna took advantage of the situation and started to shoot magic blast towards him, the creature screamed as it disappeared and the armor pieces felt on the ground.

"Wow…"Stormy said, storing his ocarina

"is a good thing that you know the ancient songs" Luna replied

"Thanks" Stormy smiled

On the 3F, they also found the key to the examination room, finally, and they also found a special key, Stormy saw that had his cutie mark, so he gave it to Luna to keep it from now, he didn't remember that key, Luna also find it strange that he gave it to her, instead of him to keeping it, they descended to the second floor, to Stormy surprised, it looked exactly the same as the one of his first nightmare, including the damaged aspect and rust everywhere, and his mind instantly froze in shock as the door leading to the upper floors lock, and a metallic echo started to sound on the walls, he tried to open the door leading towards the patients rooms, but it was locked in place, he checked the map, finding a alternative route, at first Luna was not amused, but as another metallic echo sounded, making Stormy to nearly jump, make her see he was a frightened as she was with the Black Alicorn… Stormy found the route that leads towards the first floor, as Stormy opened the door, he saw the Iron Mask Pony silhouette on the patients hallway, he advised Luna to move, she turned around and she saw a giant blade destroying the door, Stormy pulled Luna towards him… and she saw what stormy feared the most, The Iron Mask Pony… the princess was also scared, but she was worried for Stormy right now, for him, is that If he was seeing the Death itself, they ran downstairs, once on the main floor, Stormy used a sealing spell on the door, Luna helped him using some benches nearby to block the door, Stormy was breathing heavily, Luna this time has to be the one pulling him together

"Stormy!, calm down for my Sister sake" Luna raised his voice to him

"You saw it!, he is coming for me, I still don't know why he is so obsessed with me" Stormy said, recovering a little

"Then fight it next time… you taught me that… you can't run of that thing forever" Luna said to her friend, remembering what he did when she was imprisoned on the purple mist

"….. Fight it...? "He said

Stormy stop to think for a moment, fight that thing?, Luna must be out of her mind… but… she did had a point, there is going to reach a point where there will no be any place to run or hide, and eventually he will have to face that thing, Stormy smiled, a little ashamed that, the Princess he swore to protect, was the one giving him the advise, as they walked on the broken hallways, with no static on sight, he let a few words

"Shouldn't I be the one giving you advice and saving you?" Stormy said, in a kind of sarcastic tone

"Maybe… but you have done that already, besides, this the Princess of the Night you are talking to, not some ordinary mare "Luna said, in her usual royal tone

"Yeah… you are right princess"

They opened the lock that leads towards the reception, but before entering there, they checked the other rooms for something useful, not much to see in the directors office, but there was something that cached Luna attention, it was a medical report, but had the royal seal, meaning it was a important notice, both ponies read it

"The patient presents a corruption that is slowly taking over her mind, massive changes has been produced in her body, her bone structure is becoming more bigger and stronger, also her coat seems to be changing colors due to the possession, not only that, her cellular structure seems to be constantly changing, and turning her mane and tail into purple dust, the patient keeps crying for help, and I don't know what else to do, we had tried everything and the patient remains unchanged, her wings and horn also are growing… Princess Celestia…. I'm afraid there is nothing else we could do for your sister, Yours Truly: Doctor Butterscotch" That's what the report said

"…" Luna was silent, and tears felt from her eyes into the report

"Luna…. This description….is yours isn't it?" Stormy said to the princess

She nodded her head in a positive matter, when she was turning into Nightmare Moon, it was not instantaneously as may ponies where told, it was a slow but painful transformation… each sector of her body that changed, hurt like a million knifes stabbed on her, and the more the corruption grew, the more anger and loneliness she felt, the doctors, the more advanced unicorns at the time, tried to stop the process via magic, but it was not enough, she was constantly calling for help, because she didn't want to be alone when she could no longer resist it, but she don't remember where did she get corrupted, or if the hate on her heart towards her sister created its own mind, but the fact remains, she has hospitalized in Canterlot Hospital, and all the doctors magic was able to keep her conscious, but the pain didn't stop, before she lose consciousness, she saw the Black Alicorn on a mirror and then… everything faded to black, all she could see, was what Nightmare Moon was watching, she was feeling it. a fear that she knew perfectly well, she took one sad look to Stormy, before bust into tears, deep inside of her she knew what that fear was, her mind was screaming for that awful memory to stop tormenting her

Stormy, seeing how the princess was literally frozen in place, Stormy tried to talk to her, but instead, she ran away, not before taking the examination room key, from Stormy saddlebags, much to Stormy surprise, when he tried to follow her, she used a magical shield, preventing him to entering the examination room

"im sorry!, im so sorry, but I can't continue with you… someday… she will return!" Luna panicked, as she opened the examination room and enter it, closing the door from the inside

"Luna!" Stormy yelled, hitting the magical shield, trying to take it down

This was something Stormy wasn't expecting, the princess just ran off and leave him?, there must be something odd, Luna could hear the constants hits on the door, by Stormy Steel pipe, trying to get in and begging her to open up, she felt terrible for leaving him, but she didn't want him near her… not after they read that report…the examination room was closed, there was no light on whatsoever… she used Stormy´s Lantern, and saw the examination room, all rusty and old, like if there was no use in ages, Luna knew that Mistshine was there, maybe talking with the little brother will help?, but when she took a step further into the room, instead of Mistshine, a little filly Alicorn appeared… it was translucent, she saw that the filly had a crown, her mane was a very light azure and her coat was light phthalo blue, she dropped the lantern in shock, she was looping at herself when she was a little mare.

"Hey… you!" She came near to her younger self

"Stay away!" Said little Luna as she ran towards a door and disappeared

Luna picked up the lantern, why did her younger self ran from her?, she walked and opened the door where her younger self left. Once inside there was nothing but darkness, the lantern proved to be useful, until some extent, she heard a soft click from the door, one step more further on the room made her feel that there was no longer floor under her hooves and she felt, she started to flap her wings to keep herself airborne, but since one of her wings had been damaged earlier, she had a couple of problems, once she could see the floor, she landed on a fence floor, she did heard a siren going off, when she look up to see in front of her however… she saw nothing else that a mirror, also she saw the little filly in front of it

"A mirror?... here?" Luna questioned herself

"No pony appreciates me… or love the moon and starts I so deeply created " the little filly cried " If no pony loves me… " the little filly said, as she placed one hoof on the mirror

"oh no… don't do It please!" Luna tried to reason with the little filly, as if she knew what was going to happen

"then I will MAKE everypony loves me!, even if I had to keep the moon out for a whole day by force! " Said the Little filly as the mirror reflection changed

The younger version of herself disappeared, and the mirror reflection only showed up Luna current form being slowly taken away by a corruption she knew very well, as that reflection draw near the mirror, and to much of the princess disgust, the reflection exited the mirror, it was flesh and bone, but it looked like…her…

"Long time no see eh?... Princess" Said the Black Alicorn from the mist, but this time, it took a more clear form to Luna

"N-n-n…" Luna due to fear, had problems telling the mare name " Nightmare Moon! " she finally could pronounce the name…

"well well, well, it seems that you still remember me… it been a long time Luna…Let us catch up with times shall we? " Said Nightmare Moon, opening her wings and taking a fighting stance

Luna keeping the lantern floating with her magic, took out the Steel pipe that Stormy gave to her, she had to deal with this part of her past, otherwise… he could get hurt if she lose this fight. Meanwhile, on the reception, there was one stallion alone, he had gave up in opening the door, as he tried to find a alternative route, the hospital started to look rusted and the crimson color of the steel was evident, the siren has gone off

"grr, the must be another way… wait the reception door, if I can blew it up " Stormy said to himself

He started to charge a magic blast, when a unlocking sound came from the door, it opened like if somepony was welcoming him, he didn't hesitate in the minimum to enter, in fact, he jumped inside the reception, when the door closed, a soft " yay " sounded on the floor, Stormy saw this and noticed the Fluttershy doll, could his brother had used the doll to open the door for him? He took the doll and place it on his saddlebags again, he entered the examination room, passing the reception office, and he found out a door with Luna cutie mark in it

"oh come on! " Said Stormy trying to open the door

"you can´t help her" said a little colt voice

"what?" Stormy turned around only to find his little bro, holding a Key with Luna cutie mark on it

"you can't help her mister… she entered there alone, so she have to get out alone" Said Mistshine "unless you are prepared for the truth" he finished

"the truth?... " Stormy replied

He had to talk with his brother, but he was not getting where was his brother going with this, downstairs, the princess and her nightmare moon contrapart battle, and Stormy could not help, since the door was locked and his brother had the key, " what do I do know? " his mind screamed, trying to find the correct answer


	6. Chapter 6 - Town of Painful Memories -

"The truth?... "

Stormy mind was still buzzing about his little brother words, what truth, does it had to do something with the Princess condition when she was being treated on this hospital?, ever since she read that medical report about her, she was acting like if she wanted to contain or deal with something alone. The Door with Luna Cutie mark on it was closed and only Mistshine had the key… behind that door, Luna was fighting, with all her strength against Nightmare Moon, against her own past, the image of all her anger, hate and despair was in front of her, Luna kept using the rusty pipe, but Nightmare only dodge the attack, Luna was open for a attack, thing that Nightmare didn't waist time and launched a magical blast to the princess, as she screamed from direct hit she took, Stormy mind and heart skipped a beat, he looked at his brother…

"Mistshine, please I need the Key! " Stormy was getting worried about the princess

" Sorry mister… but you are not ready yet to face the truth " Said Mistshine, walking with the key to the director office

"P-please…. Brother don't go "Stormy started to cry

Mistshine ignored the tears of his big bro and opened the door to the director office, the strange thing was, that the door did not closed, like if he wanted to search something there, Stormy, before following his brother, took another look on the door that leads toward the princess and prayed for her return, as he entered the director office the door closed, Stormy used his illumination spell, he was able to see again in the dark, but the strange thing was, Mistshine was nowhere in the office, and there was no other exit, he couldn't just disappear into thin air, he is not a unicorn to learn the teleport spell, but there was something on the director table… it was the Fluttershy doll, used as paperweight, holding down what it looks like a videotape?, there was a label on the tape, it reads " play me ", Stormy looked at a TV that was near the office, it had a VHS recorder connected, Stormy pressed the button, by miracle it worked, and placed the tape… the beginning of the video was emitting static, after a while the video cleared up, and showed the Director office… the office showed a very damaged state… and screams could be heard on the background., the doctor Butterscotch started to spoke.

"There is nothing else we could do Princess… your sister condition cannot be reversed unless a huge amount of magic is required, princess…. Why didn't you came and visited your sister for once time at least? " The doctor looked sad and scared as he continued " Why did you abandon your only sister?, the only possible way to keep her conscious was, to always have somepony next to her, due to medical reasons, the pony that was keeping her company grew sick and we had to intervene… please Celestia…forgive us… for not being able to - "

The video then shows the door busting in flames, as a semi-corrupted Luna jumped towards the Doctor as the video started to again, lose the image and going into static, some images where flashing on the screen, the doctor screaming in agony as Luna's mane was breaking his bones, the nurse ponies running, only to be caught by the princess… but what it was worse, was, that she was transforming more and more into Nightmare moon, during all of this, that was the last image, Nightmare moon, stepping as hard as possible on the camera, as the video ended and ejected the tape.

Stormy was speechless… by the looks of it, the princess, the mare he loved… killed all those ponies 1000 years ago?, that can't be true!, his heart said, but his mind was conflicted, telling him " she killed them " , Stormy put his hooves on his head, trying to clear his mind, the screams of the patients and doctors still rang on his brain. If Luna did killed all those pony, why is not written on the Equestrian History?, even if Celestia wanted to keep that part hidden, there could not be any way in Equestria that would remain hidden forever… but… there was something on the video that it was off… there was no blood, usually if you kill somepony, the blood will stay on your hooves, and the walls would be splattered if the victim was crushed, that leads Stormy to think that maybe, when she became nightmare, she was trying to ask for help, but her actions turned into fear and chaos, maybe… she didn't kill all those ponies?, he took out his ocarina, before his mind drove him insane and played the Unicorn's path, the song effects covered all the room, and revealed it's true looks, it was black, and burned, most of the books in the bookshelf where illegible and the TV was broken, but there was something in the bookshelf that caught Stormy attention… it was a very old newspaper clip, it was legible enough to read, stormy sat on the old chair that the doctor used.

"Lunar Implosion on Canterlot Hospital " It read the title " a fire was reported on Canterlot hospital, the cause of the explosion was a huge burst of fire magic, there are several ponies injured, but fortunately… " Stormy smile grew " no tragic victims " but as quickly as the smile appeared on his face, it disappeared when he read the last lines of the report " only one pony resulted with several fractures, and provable will be unable to walk again, the victim name was…. Doctor Butterscotch, the one responsible of taking care of Princess Luna… which current location is unknown "

"This newspaper… "Stormy said as he read the date "is from 1000 years ago, when Luna was banished" Stormy mind processed the information quickly " Luna is blaming herself of what happened to Butterscotch, and she is thinking that if… "

Stormy froze… he was a very smart one… and he could feel the fear Luna was feeling, trying to contain that part of herself, her guilt, pain and suffering, he will not let Luna to face those things alone, Stormy turned back to the door to return to the examination room, even if he have to take the door down, he will help Luna, as soon as he placed a hoof on the doorknob, a soft " yay " was heard, The effects of the unicorn path had already ended, Stormy saw on the desk that the Fluttershy doll had the key with Luna cutie mark, as Stormy picked up the key, the doll slowly crumble into dust, it was not the original, Stormy exited the director office and used the Key on the marked door, the door opened, just to be received by a huge amount of purple mist.

Below, The princess was fighting the Black Alicorn, also know as Nightmare Moon, each magic blast she launched, it passed right thought her, but Luna has gone the worst part, her wings where already wounded, and her legs showed several cuts, The Black Alicorn on the other hand, didn't looked harmed at all… Stormy yelled the princess name, coming down on a nearby ladder, drawing both mares attention, the Black Alicorn changed target and launched herself to Stormy

"Stormy, behind you! " Luna yelled, launching another magical blast at the creature

"I noticed! " Stormy jumped dodging the creature attack; he used a teleport Spell to come near the princess

"Having that little colt won't help you… you will accept your fate, and is to be alone, the daylight is not needed "The Black Alicorn replied appearing before them

"You are wrong!" Luna said holding her hooves on her head, trying to make the enemy influence out of her mind

"Luna… "Stormy took out his ocarina again, playing it in the middle of the battle leaves him very opened "I will play the Unicorn Path, when you have the change, attack her "Stormy said to the princess

" Stormy… I " Luna wanted to apologize for her previous behavior, but she was interrupted by Stormy

" I already know Luna… I trust you with my life " Said stormy with a smile " and I will always be there for you, no matter what happens "

Stormy knew the risk of playing the song in the middle of a heated battle, but he needed to do this, as he played the ocarina, the magical effects of the song became notorious over Nightmare Moon, and Luna was able to see the true form of her attacker, her body was the same from Luna's nightmares, her coat color was a very dark violet, almost next to black, just that she had her eyes missing, and had multiple dark red areas on her body, indicating bloodstains, she had a broken green with blue armor, helmet included, but weird enough, it had skeletal design, her mane and tail where grey colored with white sparks, but her mouth had fangs, her cutie mark was a Red full moon with grey clouds surrounding it, but, the Black Alicorn Ribs where exposed and they where sharp, and her wings, capable of flight, didn't had many advantage, since, they looked like a bunch of feathers where missing, Luna shot a magic blast at her, and it did hit her this time, the ancient song was making her vulnerable, the Black Alicorn started to bleed it's black blood on the fence floor

"Luna, don't waist time!" Stormy mentioned, keeping the ancient song effect active

" oh no you don't " The Black Alicorn instantly used a fire magic

The fire surrounded Stormy, he tried to exit the fire ring but the flames grew higher each time he tries to jump, if he cancel the ancient song to get out using the teleport spell, the Black Alicorn will have the advantage, the fence below Stormy´s hooves started to grow hot, the creature using her dark magic made a translucent bubble that held the stallion trapped inside with the fire, Stormy could not break from the inside, he tried to put out the flames with his raincoat, but his raincoat caught the fire, the air inside the little bubble was starting to lose oxygen, Stormy manage to pull out the flames from his raincoat, but continue to concentrate on keeping the magic going

" auch auch, this is hot! " Stormy said, keeping the effect going

"im coming! " Luna changed direction to the bubble

"Luna forget it!, this is a distraction, notice how my magic wasn't blocked? " Stormy said coughing a little

Luna launched to attack the bubble, ignoring Stormy request to attack the creature, The Black Alicorn took advantage of this and flew towards the princess, she used her exposed ribs to injure Luna's wings, the princess felt a penetrating pain circulating on her body, she could not fly or even hover with both wings damaged, time was getting short, as the air in the bubble started to run low, and it was filling completely with smoke, Stormy lay on the ground, trying to breathe as little as necessary, he remembered the Song of Time he found in the archives, but if Luna is not next to him, she will be affected, Stormy could only watch as the princess was fighting… Luna was getting worried, watching stormy body grew weak to both, the magic exhaustion and the lack of air, she changed the things a little bit, and used her pipe as a boomerang, the creature obviously dodged the attack, but noticed the steel pipe was coming back, but towards the bubble, as she Flew as fast as possible to stop it, Luna saw her perfect chance, using her magic, she made the pipe froze in mid air, and heads towards the Black Alicorn, the creature noticing this, tried to change direction, but the pipe stabbed her in her torso, where the exposed ribs where, the creature let out a distorted scream, as she caught a little blood, Luna shoot a magical bullet towards the bubble, making it break, the smoke disappeared quickly and Stormy was recovering, the fire itself, without being contained, could not cause suffocation, but it could cause burns, Luna used a teleporting spell to take him out of the fire ring, it worked. Since stormy was keeping the effect on with his magic, the black alicorn was suffering the pain from her wound

"Looks our roles… "Stormy cough a little, getting more air each time he opened his mouth " has been reversed since we met, right princess? "

"you may say that, but we will discuss that later " Luna was smiling but also exhausted but the use of constant magic blast on the Black Alicorn

"I…..h…..a….ven´t…. died….. you….. will….ne…ver….get rid of ME…. IM… YOU….YOU ARE….ME! "

Those words came from the creature, it still had Luna pipe on her torso, making her lungs fill with blood, and her heart was stabbed, Stormy and Luna didn't hesitated and launched to attack her, Stormy gave Noirstar´s Sword to Luna, as he bucked with his back hooves the Black Alicorn on her face, making her lose balance, Luna then pierced again the Alicorn exposed part with such strength, the handle of the sword even got inside her wicked heart, and the blade exited on the back of their foe, also Luna's horn got nailed on the creature throat, the black blood of Alicorn stained Luna's hooves and part of her mane, Stormy stopped the song effects, and when it ended… the creature was still as she was… just that her blood turned red… Stormy placed a hoof on Luna's shoulder, as both saw that the creature breathing was no longer coming from it

"You are right….. About being part of me"Luna said, accepting that fact, but also taking out the sword and pipe from the corpse "but unlike you…. Im not alone "

The creature hit the floor hard… Luna still without looking to Stormy, returned the sword to him, he placed it on his back, since the steel pipe was already in his saddlebags, he was still surprised they where able to carry so many things, maybe thanks to the spell he used on said bags, Luna kept looking at the lifeless corpse of the creature… she walked towards the mirror, only to find her reflection, looking normal, but sad, as she was right now…

"but what if it is true?... if I became her again? " Luna questioned

"You won't "Stormy replied, coming closer to the princess

"But " she tried to think on the future, but Stormy placed a hoof kindly in her mouth to interrupt her

"You won't, I know it… and I will be by your side "Stormy said, smiling to the princess

He learned a few things from Pinkie Pie, especially when somepony need to be treated with kindness and care, but also, she taught Stormy to how to make things better with a smile, Luna looked confused as how her companion approached the corpse of the Black Alicorn, and with his magic moved the jaws of this one as in a puppet display.

"Oh hey Luna just for you to know, I will keep myself sleep, because im lazy and I don´t want to have my flank kicked by a crazy stallion with mental issues " Said Stormy, trying to imitate the Black Alicorn voice

"Pfffff…." Luna put a hoof in her mouth trying to contain the laughter form that display

"also… I forgot the cake for the occasion silly me " Stormy said, dropping the corpse

"Hahahahaha! " Luna laughed, making her felt relieved

" hehehe" Stormy moved to a side, and from out of nowhere, he took a Pony Skull, and made a made it talk with his magic, saying something like " look at me, im Miss Bones, say hi kids "

"hahaha, stop it" Luna laughed again

Their laughs cut short, as the skull bit stormy hoof, Stormy lose concentration of his magic, and let the skull drop on the floor, that's when he saw how the skull was picked up by a hoof, he turned around and he found the skull belonged to the Skeletal mare, the same one that had stolen his sword, but there was something different, she didn't have flesh on the wings anymore, they looked torn apart from her , instead, only the skeleton was, her cutie mark, and flesh on her body persisted, her front and back hooves also looked like bones, as soon as she placed her skull back in place, the flesh covered it… returning her angered look, her eyes… where all black, no red dot or anything, she raised Stormy´s sword, Luna used his magic to pull him out of the sword reach

" What the- , is she the creature that stole your sword?" Luna asked

"yep" Stormy confirmed, taking out Noirstar sword

"you-…cannot….escape….your….sins…." The Skeletal Mare said, launching herself

Being a Pegasus, she had speed, but that is the thing, if she is missing the feathers, why on in Equestria is she able to fly?, Luna took out her rusty pipe, to defend herself, but one powerful blow, from Stormy Sword, manage to broke it, Luna was opened for a attack, The Skeletal Mare Tried to bite her, Stormy shoot a magic Blast to it, the creature hit the mirror on the room, making it shatter, the pieces of the mirror felt on the creature flesh, Luna and Stormy took this opportunity to go up on the stairs, and exit through the door, as the door closed, Stormy used his last bit of magic to take down a closed filled with out of date medicines to block the path, both ponies ran, when they got to the reception, it did look normal, like if killing the Black Alicorn returned the hospital to it's previous state, but the strange thing was… the door to the main exit was changed, it had a different design, when Luna and Stormy opened it, they was a very potent light, that made both close their eyes

Once the light started to subside, Stormy and Luna saw that they where no longer in Canterlot, there was way too many buildings and the street was not natural, it had too much concrete, also, they where able to see the Statue of Friendship of the horizon, Luna tried to open the door that leads to the hospital, trying to see if that would send them back to Canterlot, but the doorknob felt, it was broken, a nearby map give stormy the hints he needed to figure out where he was, his mind froze as he saw the name

"Stormy… are you ok?, where are we? " Luna asked

"We… are in Manehatten " Stormy said, a little sadness could be heard from his voice

Stormy stored the map on his saddlebags, Luna noticed this, why Stormy wouldn't be happy about being in his hometown?, Stormy noticed the big building… commercial stores… even libraries and restaurants… the radio didn't took long to start emitting a sound, Both ponies took a look around and they noticed several Ceiling Fillies on the rooftops, they used the power lines, Stormy ran again, Luna followed him, Stormy looked a little afraid, as he ran, several voices sounded in his head, the creatures reached quickly, Stormy was out of magic, so does the princess, besides, she couldn't fly, her wings where still wounded and she haven't treated them, Stormy used the sword on the creatures, didn't take long for them to fall on the ground… blood from the creatures splattered stormy hooves, he tried to make it go away from his coat, Luna, sawing her stallion state, she hit him with her hoof on his face, making that hit come into his senses

"Stormy, calm down, you are getting me worried, ever since we came here, you have been acting strange, what the hay is wrong with you?! " Luna was getting angry, awaiting response

"Princess…. Im…. im sorry " Stormy apologized " is just… that this town, my hometown, bring many memories… most of them, are bad…. "

"I understand…. But acting like that will be very reckless, you know this place, is there is a place we can rest for a moment? "Luna said, her wounds where starting to affect her already

" mmmm…well, there… "Stormy remembered something "There is my home… " Stormy remembered the way from his home…

"guide me there " Luna said

As Stormy and Luna walked towards Stormy´s Fillyhood house, it started to rain… without any Pegasus intervention, using the map, Stormy manage to get to the street that leads towards his house… but the road was blocked, it was destroyed, just like in Canterlot, they tried to find a alternative route… the was one, passing through a commercial center… it was able to be recognized because it had a giant horseshoe on the roof, once they manage to enter from the main doors, all the placed looked empty, it may take a while to reach their destination, Luna sit on a nearby bench, tired of all the running so far… her body could not resist anymore, her wounds started to tired her, Stormy sat next to her and searched on her saddlebags for something to cure her, he found the bandages, and carefully extended the princess wings, she was getting used to being patched up by a stallion, but more importantly, by a former Lunar Guard, Stormy wasn't too wounded, he carefully placed the bandages on the princess wings, he tighten up a little to stop the bleeding, Luna was blushing, since her wings wasn't the only place she had cuts, as Stormy started to cover her wounds, he took out his sword and stored it on Luna saddlebag, a few minutes passed, and Luna was patched up already… she would have problems walking until she the wounds close. Since she already lost some blood on the way there

"Thanks…." Luna said, a little blushed " guess you retook you role as guardian? " she giggled a little

"hehehe, what kind of stallion would I be if I let you wounded? " Stormy got down from the bench and sat on the floor for Luna to climb on " come on, I will carry you over, until you get some rest "

"I appreciate the offer, but I can walk on my own " Luna said coming down from the bench

The adrenaline rush from before made the princess don't feel pain, but as soon as she placed a hoof on the floor, reality kicked in, she was not in conditions to run… or walk for that matter… she just had defeated the Black Alicorn after all, and her wounds are still fresh, Stormy placed her on his back, keeping her secure, he took a bite from one of the green apples he had, making him recover enough magic to make sure Luna could be on Stormy back without falling, Luna on the other hoof, took a drink from the energy drink… she felt better, but the taste of the drink, was not top quality, either way, she rested a while, as Stormy walked, trying to find the exit to the alleys.

It was really strange that there was no monsters on such a big place, anypony in that kind of hell will be praying to Celestia to do not find a creature, but the place was deserted from both… creatures and ponies, Stormy noticed on one of the stores, a music shop to be exact, 3 book of harmony pages, he won the lottery, as he entered the Store with Luna on his back, he noticed the 3 pages… one reads " Pegasus Storms " which allows to make it rain, since the clouds will generate above the user or target, the larger the cloud, the bigger the magic required, careful with lighting bolts though, the other was called " Equestria Soul ", It was a joyful song that revitalized anypony in close range, if used on a earth pony, their stamina will recover, if used on a pegasus, their tiredness will go and speed will increase for a short time, and used on a unicorn, it will recover all his magic, he could use it to recover the princess, Luna indicated, seeing the page, that it will require little magic, and with one green apple, Stormy have half capability, he was thinking of eating his last apple, but the princess, strangely enough, stop him… saying that is better to save it in emergency, and same thing with the song, the last song was called " Minuet of Everfree " and according to the princess, is one of the few dangerous songs on the book, since it allows to control plants and nature, but if the users mind is not concentrated or the magic is too weak, the plants could attack the user instead. Stormy did not tried any songs but he restored the pages on the book and place it on his saddlebags.

"Eleven pages to go "Stormy said, leaving the store

"How come the book is missing pages?, I remember that it was whole on the Royal Treasury " Luna stated, revealing some details about the book

"I don´t know, I found It on the library… only the winds of friendship song was there…wait… the book was in the Royal Treasury? " Stormy was surprised, since the Treasury 1000 yeas ago, was located on the Old Castle in the middle of the Everfree Forest

" yes…the book was created by Starwhirl the Bearded most faithful student descendant, Clover The Clever VII " Luna mentioned, as if she was present on the creation of the book "

" I see… so is very ancient… is a surprise it still works, did you and Celestia already born by then? " Stormy asked the princess "

"Of course, but I had like 4 years that time, Clover the Clever VII died of old age, creating that book " Luna replied, remembering the time she was able to see that old pony when she was just a little filly princess

"mmmm…. Well, this book has been very helpful, so I think is worth the try to return it to its original state " Stormy said exiting the music store

Stormy took the steel pipe just in case he had to fight a monster, Luna was already recovering a little strength and her wounds started to close… is amazing to him, how quickly Luna was recovering, Stormy got to the first floor of the mall, in there, was a exit to the alleys, but it was locked with a key, both ponies only sighted as they searched for the key, Stormy used the elevator to go directly to the offices department, since there was where the Manager of the mall was, Luna asked him, how did he know?, but he replied that she was right in something, Manehatten was his hometown, so he knows it like his back hoof, when they got up… the radio emitted static, stormy wanted to avoid fighting, due to the reason he have Luna on his back, but the princess also took out Noirstar sword, indicating she still had some magic left to still wield the weapons, Stormy looked up, no monsters on the roof, besides the door was broken, but there was also no monster on front, back or the sides… once he entered the manager office, he saw a new monster… it was a mare… perfectly formed…it was a beautiful display, but the skin was made of plastic, that mare was carrying over a rusty steel pipe, it had purple coat, but red mane and tail, she had the eyes and mouth covered up with a bandage, preventing her to see or scream, but could hear everything very well… it was a visible Earth pony… also, she seems to be wearing a bracelet and damaged clothes, her cutie mark was a lipstick but behind it a sad pony silhouette, Stormy by some reason, seemed to be attached by that creature…, and the creature didn't made things easy for him either, since she was walking on a very seductive way towards him, and strangely enough, she looked like a totally normal pony. From the Princess Point of view, she knew it was a monster, since the Bandages where bloodstained, like if she was crying tears of blood, also she had some scars on the visible parts of her body, but from Stormy point of view, it was if he was looking to another survivor, Luna tried to make Stormy reason, but the mare was clearly taking advantage of the situation, and hit Stormy with the steel pipe, that was enough to make him wake up, the creature attacked again, Stormy blocked it's attack with his steel pipe, Luna saw her opening and attacked the creature, that is then the things changed, each hit, made the creatures skin to break, revealing underneath coat-less flesh and part of a bone, the creature used its steel pipe to attack again, but this time, Stormy hit her face with the pipe, when he raised his hoof with the pipe, the creature used her back hooves to attack, hitting stormy on his face, he was taking quite a lot of damage, since earth ponies are know for their stamina and strength, the creature tried to jump towards Stormy, that's when both saw their opportunity and attacked at the same time, Luna stabbed the sword on the creature chest, a crack was heard when that happened, Stormy hit the creature with a horizontal attack, hitting it on the neck, another crack was heard, indicating that the " plastic " skin broke on her neck, and furthermore… breaking it, the creature felt on the floor and Stormy tried to finish it… but he looked at the bracelet the creature had… that made him stop completely… Luna saw this… and stabbed the creature with the sword… Stormy felt dizzy and had to sit on the floor for a while, Luna took from the corpse of the creature, her bracelet, the princess could felt magic coming from it…

"That mare…. i….i believe I saw her somewhere " Stormy said, shaking his head, like if he had the migraine from the century

"This bracelet…is a forbidden relic…." Luna said as she saw each detail of the object

"Forbidden Relic? " Stormy said confused

" yes… this is called; Deep Ambition bracelet " Luna's knowledge indentified the ancient relic quickly " is a magic bracelet that allow the user to be irresistible to the opposite gender " Luna continued " but it also makes the user to become more sexually aggressive and greedy, all their desires will come to light, the user is not able to take the bracelet out himself"

" Sexual desires?... but… if those came to light, won't that make the user lonely, seeing that the user is acting way too seductive " Stormy said… as if he was remembering something

" yes… it does… most ponies would not want to find those kind of things in public, Still the user has control over their desires and when to express them.. but not over their actions " Luna responded "for example, the user could control his/her sexual fantasies, but not the way she or he dresses " she continued " this thing was supposed to be on the bottom of the Neighagra Falls, why is it here? "

Stormy felt like if he knew the bracelet from before, he took the relic to see it for a moment… then… like if it was a heavy bell or something, both ponies felt a strong pain in their heads, as if the object made a sound that goes straight to their brains, Stormy passed out on the floor, and Luna also passed out on his back, everything faded to black… when he woke up, everything was different, he was no longer on the Commercial Center, he was in a elementary school, he saw the name of the school from the window he was in, it reads

" Manehatten university? How did I get here… Luna? "

he took a moment to see his back, but Luna was not with him, he was very confused and worried for the princess, there was something he noticed… he was in the old university from Manehatten, he tried to talk to the teacher, but his hoof didn't touch her, as if he was a ghost, he then noticed a little filly entering the classroom, it was a little mare, exactly as the monster he encountered before, but there was something different in her, something that let the stallion know that, it was not the Plastic Mare, her eyes, her cyan eyes where filled with kindness but her mouth and attitude reflected greed and pride, also her coat was red color, and her mane and tail where purple with a shade of pink, also a pink bowtie was on the end of her tail, also, her cutie mark was different, it was a lipstick lips, with the $ symbol on them, Stormy jaw nearly dropped as he saw himself sitting on the desk near the window, all the colts tried to ask the little filly out, the reason… it was heart and hooves day, the teacher spoke…

"Alright boys and girls, today we have a new class mate in our class today… she is Miss Redhoof, she is the daughter of the Mayor Goldenscroll, so try to behave " the teacher introduced to the new classmate

"nice to meet you Redhoof " all the boys welcomed her

"the daughter of the mayor eh?" Said the Little Stormy

"hmph… thanks… I guess… " she replied a little shy but mean

The Stormy sitting on his desk, was a little older that the one he had previously saw on his apartment house in Canterlot, the mare was almost the same age as him, and by some reason, they are the only " ghost " in color, all the other ones are grey colored, Stormy came closer to the mare as if he remembered from someplace…Redhoof passed right through him and sat down on the desk near his younger self, at that age… he remembered that his little bro Mistshine was in the kindergarten section…

"Hi… Im Stormy Brave " the little stormy replied

"Redhoof…" the mayor daughter replied

All the ghost disappeared, quickly as they came, Stormy had chance to check the classroom he was.. all the desk had dust on them, indicating the state of decay in each one, the teacher desk was opened and Stormy found a notebook, in it, Redhoof Grades where recorded, a little genius she was… but Stormy eyes grew wide when he checked his saddlebags, All their contents are gone!, as he saw on the window, he saw a red pony with a bag, on the bag, the ocarina shape could be seen, that pony had all his items!, he tried to exit the room, but it was locked from the outside… " Perfect… "he said in his mind, he checked another desk, the one where his ghost was, he found there a little knife, then, he checked Redhoof desk, he found a lilac purple ribbon there, why a lilac purple ribbon?, either way, he stored both things on his saddlebags, there was a second door next to the blackboard, it leads towards another classroom, he was able to open it, the other classroom was more empty, the blackboard was erased, and the door leading towards the passageway, once there, he saw the red pony trotting towards the first floor, when Stormy followed her, the stairs towards the first floor was blocked by fallen desk, cardboard boxes and cabinets, he could not go from there, so he had to search for another route, he started to search on the 2F for another way down, he knew he was on the second floor because, he was able to see the big tree that was on the middle of the first floor courtyard, there was a map, placed on the closed door that leads towards the classroom he was before, he could use it to see specific places, as he saw the map, there was a place that caught his attention, it was the cargo elevator, it leads towards the storage and the hallway of the first floor, he set his mind of trying to find out why he is seeing those ghost, could be memories from his own past?, speaking of which, he saw the Red pony ghost entering the elevator, Stormy ran and opened their steel doors, the pony was not there, there was 3 floors on the elevator, he pressed the first one, and the elevator took him to the chosen floor, once there, he noticed a lipstick mark on one of the walls

" wait… is that red pony…. No… Redhoof? "

He sure couldn't forget the specific rosemary lipstick she always use, and turned on the corner where the lipstick mark was, he reached to the door leading to the courtyard, as he looked at the lock, it was chained up, and the lock required a key, when he was about to leave to search for the key, he saw ad heard voices coming form the courtyard, he took a look and saw the red pony, Redhoof, being bullied by other ponies, she was wearing a seductive attire, but most importantly… her left hoof had the Deep Ambition bracelet

"get away bitch! " a older unicorn said, throwing stones at Redhoof

"no… stop, im not a bitch" Redhoof said, shielding herself the best she could behind the tree, her blue dress was starting to get dirty

"Then explain those clothes, admit it!, you are just seducing young colts! " said a pegasus mare. Yelling at her

" auch! " a stone hit Redhoof on her forehead " whoa! " she then was hold on "

" All your girls " said a unicorn using a paralysis spell, it was a big unicorn but with manners of a stick" make sure she learn her lesson about proper attire for a mayor descendant! "

"Please… help! " Redhoof plead for help

Stormy tuned his head away when he saw the younger mares and some colts that didn't felt under her seductive looks, throw stones at her with more strength, Stormy tried to intervene and launched a magical bullet between the bars, he was crying… as if that mare was part of his past, as a matter of fact, he started to remember her…then… he did remembered that scene in particular, when she was bullied, he came to her aid, the magical bullet stormy launched before, passed right through them, he cursed by not having the key, but then… he saw something, a counter spell for the paralysis, then a shield spell, the same spell he used on the Princess when he was on Canterlot Castle, but how?, he just learned the spell during this nightmare!, as he saw the tree, in one of the branches, there was his younger self, he let a smile, as his young image launched a fire spell, separating the bullies

"Leave her alone already!, are you by any chance better than her by doing this? " Young Stormy said, defending the earth pony

" did you felt under her enchantment?, she is a earth pony, she can't make magic, neither seduce colts so easy! " said a unicorn mare, her cutie mark was a book with a light bulb

"no, and you want to know why? " Young Stormy said, stepping out of the fire ring he created, he had a look that will scare most ponies " because you can't judge another pony for how they dress, or how they act, is the heart inside what counts, know I will ask nicely one more time… leave her alone "

A earth pony that Young Stormy had ignored, buck him on the face, making lose concentration of his spell, when the fire extinguish, he tried to go to the red mare, but Young Stormy, who clearly had a piss off look on his face, pull him from his tail and using his levitation spell, he send him flying towards the bullies, they quickly ran afterwards… then all the ghost, including Redhoof and his younger self, disappeared… on the tree, there was the bag with all his items…

" Redhoof…. Now I remember…. Those where….. my memories of her… why…. Why in Equestria is this happening? " Stormy put his hooves on his head, more confused that ever " does this means everything here is just a dream?, I could have hit my head pretty hard on one sword training and im a coma or something "

As soon as he said coma… he remembered his brother condition… he hit himself with his hoof, calling himself "stupid, stupid pony!, what kind of brother you are?!, there is no way you are in a coma!, if you where, who would take care of him?!, who will protect him?! " he got himself up… looking at a sigh on the tree, still with tears in his eyes. The sigh on the tree was too far away to read, since he was on the first floor now, he could start searching for the key, most of the doors however, where damaged, they had cuts, or they where blocked by furniture, as he walked, he reflected upon the ghost appearances… could those ghost be memories he lost?, or he had finally gone crazy due to the events that have been happening recently?, either way, he had to recovered his items, he checked the bathroom of the first floor, as soon as he placed one hoof inside… he felt something cold, he looked down, and the bathroom was flooded, the water was enough to cover his horseshoes, he could felt like if there was something bad there… but he went in anyway. The radio emitted a little static, alerting Stormy and placing him on guard stance, armed with the knife, he opened every door that leads to a toilet, but there was nothing… his answer came up, when he saw his reflection on the bathroom mirror, there was a pony crying on the last toilet, far from the door, Stormy could only see him using the mirror, so he used his magic to pull out the mirror and came closer to the crying pony.

" hey… kiddo…. Are you alright? "

The pony did not replied, it was a earth pony, but as soon as Stormy placed a hoof on him to try to reason with him, the pony jumped and despise being a foal, he manage to threw Stormy to the floor, he got up really quick and look again with the mirror, the earth pony was no longer there, but there was something on the toilet seat, Stormy levitated it, and took a look, it was a key to a classroom, it read " Classroom 3-D ", the kinder garden classrooms?, why there?, the Classrooms where separated by floor number so if it reads 3-D it is the forth classroom in the third floor. He exited the bathroom, and walked towards the elevator, the fact that there was no monsters made him at least fell some sort of relief, besides his only weapon is a knife that could break if it was used with too much strength, he did check the other classrooms on the first floor, but besides destroyed desk, and a weird smell of blood in the air, there was nothing out of place, he entered the elevator and pushed the little button with a 3 in it, using his magic, the elevator moved towards the Third Floor, once there, he checked the classrooms, most of them had little blocks or letters like ABC stuck on the walls, also, childish drawings where there, in one of the rooms however, Stormy found something out of place, it was one of the Harmony Pages, along with a drawing, made by a little colt, the drawing was 2 ponies, in the middle of a big heart, both ponies seems to be holding hooves, as in the left side, there was one black pony smiling, for some reason, that black pony made stormy felt uneasy, he then read the harmony page he found, it reads " Earth Pony Ballad "

" lets see… this song is filled with the passion and dedication of the earth ponies, it allow the user ( as long as he isn't a Earth pony ) , have more physical strength and stamina, just like if they where a combination of Earth Pony and the current race, but keep in mind that as long as the effect is in place, the user will be unable to use magic if he is a unicorn " the song description revealed the details about the spell " so… in other words, I will be more resistant to attacks and deals more damage, but I will lose the possibility of use magic for a while… not the best option if Im alone " Stormy replied to himself

He stored both, the page and the drawing in his saddlebags and continues searching the classrooms, there was one thing in another room that caught the stallion attention, there was a shower in the middle of the classroom, the door of the classroom reads " pony anatomy ", when he checked the shower, there was dry blood on the wall, but there was a Fluttershy doll on the base of the shower, the same doll that Mistshine always hold when he got into comatose state, Stormy picked up, it was dirty but it still made it's soft "yay" sound when pressed, Stormy opened the shower to try to clean it up, but that is when he felt a sticky substance exiting the hose, he turned around, and it was blood!, he freaked out, so much he hugged the doll tightly, he hit the wall with his plot, but he felt it moving, he turned around to see, and it was the plastic mare, she was there, the blood from the shower was going down the drain, as the mare was trying to bit Stormy´s neck, he used his horn to pierce her throat, a crack was head on the creature, Stormy quickly took out the knife and stabbed the creature on her torso to get her off, it did work, but the plastic mare was making now a noise, not fully recognizable, due to her mouth bandage, but from the sounds of it, it looks like crying?, he attacked with the knife once more on her torso, and found out something he missed before, since she was using clothes, the only weak point of that creature was the torso and belly, those parts, covered by the clothes, are soft, normal in some way, the creature stop moving as soon as Stormy used his knife on that weak spot, but sadly for him, the knife broke, do to the strength he used, now he was unarmed, he quickly exited the room and took the Fluttershy doll with him. His mind was already starting to shatter in pieces, he finally reached the 3-D classroom, and used the key he found before, the door opened without any problems, once inside… he found nothing else but ghosts, not the usual foals ghost, they where police colts and teacher, there was only one foal there, himself, crying, but he had multiple cuts and wounds in his body, not too serious, and, there was one little colt that was being taken by the hospital, stormy looked at that foal, and he saw on his hoof, the Fluttershy doll, he felt a cold fear, running on his spine, the door closed, the ghost seems to be having a discussion about something.

"How could this happen?... where did you find him? " the teacher asked Young Stormy

"here… he was not moving!, just crawling, im telling you!, I saw him!, a black colt!, he did this to my brother! " Young Stormy kept crying

"You are the only one here little one, how are we so sure that you didn't do this to your brother? " one of the police colts ask the crying colt

"what in Equestria are you saying!?" Young Stormy voice changed to a angry, yet sad voice " how do you dare thinking for a second that I did this to my little brother!? " his anger was starting to affect him seriously

"Really agent Keeneye?, that's was uncalled for " one of the Police colts said to his companion

"im just saying officer Silverbadge, the was the only one here right? " Keeneye replied

" No…" Young Stormy replied "there was other pony, one I saw leaving, the one that made me this Scars and attacked my brother! " he raised his voice, still sounding sad

"Give me the name son "Silverbadge asked

"you will never believe me…im sure ha had bought you too " Young Stormy now sounded ever more sad

"Kid, trust me… I will find the truth, tell me the name, please " Keeneye asked Young Stormy one more time

"HE IS BLACKHORN!, THE MAYOR OLDER SON! " Young Stormy finally snapped, revealing the name, screaming to the top of his lungs

An awkward silence filled the room, Stormy… seeing his ghost reaction… couldn't hold it anymore… as he remembered, that name… a name that he was sure ha had forgotten, he hugged again the Fluttershy doll tightly, as he remembered his first encounter with that pony


	7. Chapter 7 - Lessons from the Past -

Blackhorn… the Mayor Goldenscroll older son, his pride and joy, and his heir, was the one Young Stormy told the police to be the attacker of his little bro, Keeneye had his suspicions but was silent, Silverbadge however, thinking this was a bad joke, hit stormy with his hoof and placed a hoofcuffs on him, then a ring in his horn to prevent him to cast spells, the teacher was frozen from the impression, as Stormy was seeing his younger self ghost being arrested… he was not stopping in hugging the doll

" What the?! " Young Stormy was trying to free himself

" you are under arrest for the homicide attempt against your brother Mistshine Brave " Silverbadge spoke, nervous sweat was coming down his neck "

" hold on officer " Keeneye replied " I know I have my suspicious on him, but why arresting him?"

"can you see?, his own brother blood is on his coat, we already run the lab test remember " Silverbadge replied

"Let me go!, I knew he had you bough! Everypony is this town is owned by him!, I wish he died! " Young Stormy moved more

" quiet brat!, officers take him! " Silverbadge give the orders to the other officers

All the ghost disappeared, Stormy mind was no longer in one piece, he started to think he had finally lost it, and continue to cry, hugging the doll, could it be true?, he attacked his own brother?, of course not!, his mind keep telling him that… but Blackhorn name keeps ringing in his mind, that colt caused him so many problems, for starters he was a bully in that same university, just because he had the money and the power to do what he pleased, and the mayor was too busy with his fortune left by her departed wife, to see what his son was doing, after Blackhorn graduated, Stormy felt that he could resume his life again, and started to study everything related to the royal guard... still his mind didn't want to remember him, since he became what it seems to be a Candidate to run the city, in the next elections.

"…" Stormy got up, and cleaned his tears with his hoof "…. i….. I can't sit here crying… Luna must be somewhere….and my brother…. "

He came to the dry blood where Mistshine was picked up, there was a key there, as stormy picked up, it reads Gym, so this wasn't the key to the courtyard, it was for the gym, why the gym?, he checked the room, it was the kindergarten section after all, most of the place had dolls, ABC blocks and drawings, he checked the teacher desk, he found a letter, it was addressed to…. His big sister, stormy read it really quick

" Mrs. Brave, in writing in behalf of the Manehatten Institute, you see, as you may be aware, that your little brother Mistshine Brave seems to have little social problems, he don't play or interact with other ponies besides his big brother, I strongly recommend you to try your best from your end, to make this little pony to open himself up a little, as for our end, I request you for permission to place Mistshine under special treatment class, Your sincerely, Scrollheart Teacher From Manehatten Institute Kindergarten "

" Hold on…. Special treatment class?, my brother never needed special treatment, before his coma… what is going on here?... well, better check that room " Stormy thought for a second, before setting up for the special treatment classroom.

On the hallway, he rechecked the map, the Special Treatment class was on the second floor, ironically the floor he started, but it was not on the same hallway, it was on the opposite one, and It was easy to notice, since it had a different door color than the others, he walked to the opposite hallway of the third floor, and he noticed that the stairs where not blocked, so he descended to the second floor, once there, Stormy tried to open the special treatment classroom, but the door wont budge, it had some sort of riddle written on it

" For one place to another, it wanders without rest, finding the lost ones, and returning them to where they belong, with blade in hoof it wanders, far and wide, Making the loved ones get lost in the darkness " That was the riddle

The riddle wasn't hard, it was referring to Death himself, but there was a place to place something in the door, it had the shape of a scythe, the grim reaper weapon… where in Equestria will he get that weapon?, and most importantly, in a University?, he checked his map… and fortunately for him, there is a Theatre class in the first floor, there must have props for the actors there, on his side of the hallway, there must be a staircase leading towards the first floor, he checked a room in the second floor thought, but his surprise was, that the same plastic mare had jumped on him, she still had the crack on her neck and the blade of the knife in her chest, she was more aggressive, trying to beat the living daylights out of her victim with her pipe, Stormy moved his head and hit the monster again with his horn, this made her mouth bandage to fell off, and she let a powerful scream, big enough to hurt Stormy ears, he covered them with his hooves as the mare saw her chance and attacked him again, but this time, she jumped and tried to bite him, Stormy dodge her attack, and used his back hoofs to buck her in her sides, the creature let a scream of pain, but as stormy launched a second buck, the creature felt from the edge to the courtyard on the first floor, Stormy saw, that the creature was trying to get up… and without the bandage… a voice exited her mouth…. Something that made stormy froze…

"…...h…e….l….p…m…..e….." the Plastic Mare let out those words, very weakened

Stormy could not finish the monster from up there… but…. Why it is asking for help?, either way, he checked the room where the creature was, he was able to find a bandages and a red apple there, along with another foal drawing, this time, it was a Cyan suit Pony, standing in the top of a building, but with 2 dead bodies on the floor, not able to be recognized, he placed that drawing in his saddlebags, then, he got down to the first floor, from the side he was in, he was able to see the tree again, but from the back side, since the door was in the opposite side, Stormy tried to take down the furniture that was blocking his path, so he can get to the other side quickly, but even his magic blast didn't destroyed the furniture completely, it only let a hole where he can crawl through, why didn't he tried to move it before with the furniture blocking the second floor stairs?, his answer came quickly, he was feeling tired, due to the use of his magic blast and illumination spell in dark areas, he started to check the remaining rooms, on the Theatre class however, things quickly, got strange in a matter of speaking.

The Theatre looks abandoned, and the backgrounds where damaged, torn apart even, the seats for the class where smashed, as if something heavy had fallen on them, Stormy looked up, and saw the teacher office, from there was something similar to a circuit breaker, no doubt to rise, lower the curtain, etc, also he saw a Timber Wolf Costume in a broken window, it was very damaged, also, on the stage, there was a monster costume laying there, curiosity ring to his mind and tried to activate the circuit breaker via magic, but the problem was, that the teacher office was too high and the stairs leading there where broken, so his magic was not able to work on such high distances with his current state, and he couldn't climb either, but the door leading to the storage, where all the costumes and props are stored, was unlocked, he opened the door, since he didn´t have the radio with him, he could not see or detect if there was any creatures in the room, Stormy had his horn glowing in case he need to use his magic blast, he felt like a strong headache when he was near one of the lockers… he was reluctant on opening it, but he opened anyway, what felt on him was a black cloak and a skeleton inside of it, Stormy screamed in fear, thinking it was the Skeletal mare… but as he checked the costume and got himself up, it was a Death costume, with scythe and everything, he tried to pick up the scythe prop, in order to use it on the special treatment door, but when he touched the weapon, he found the reason of the headache… it had a shadow monster, the same one from the Canterlot castle, just that this time, it possessed the costume that had fallen on Stormy, the shadow attacked with the scythe, Stormy dodged and attacked with a light magic blast, the cloak was enough to repel it, as if the shadow power gave magic proof qualities to the costume, as Stormy dodged again the attack, the static grew more strong as another costume came to life, it was a timber wolf costume, that launched on Stormy back and started to bit him on his back, which it did succeed, the teeth of the costume, pierced easily the raincoat, bandage and coat from the stallion, not only the tension of the moment was getting into him, but also the pain and the psychological pressure he was having, was more that enough to make his mind completely shattered, and in a cry of pain, his horn released the same magic he used against Noirstar, the ancient and arcane magic, the moon dust magic

The Moondust formed a Spiked ball around the stallion, which tackled both, timber wolf and Death costume, a soft crack was heard on both enemies, for once, he was not unconscious, and could use his magic, he saw his window of opportunity and he launched a moondust blast, similar to the magic blast but with his moondust arcane magic, to the death costume, it was strong enough to break the costume cloak and bones, to reveal a part of the shadow, Stormy quickly shot a blast on the shadow, giving it a direct hit, the shadow screamed as it disappeared and the death costume dropped to the floor, Stormy attacked the timber wolf costume with another moondust blast, piercing the costume and leaving the shadow exposed, a second blast was enough to make it go… the stallion could feel the ancient magic in his horn and body… but it was also hurting him in a way, his mind has still not gotten used to the type of ancient magic required to control it… he could feel, like if he was dizzy and had problems to keeping himself steady, also, he didn't feel that his wounds where healed like the first time, the adrenaline rush from his magic, prevented him to feel pain, but after a while, he could feel it, he ignored it and walked normally, he tried to pick the death costume scythe, but the attack from before broke it, he searched quickly all the other lockers and the props where damaged…, strange this new type of monster was more stronger that the Armored Shadow, and yet, it was almost the same pattern, Stormy decided to call this new creature of nightmares " Shadow Performers ", due to the object they posses are costumes. The Stallion returned to the stage, where the teacher office was unreachable, he thought of something, if the moondust could form spiked balls around him, created powerful blast, and shape into thousand needles, what else he could it do?, he remembered the Pegasus wings and he could try to use his moon dust to climb to the teacher office, he felt that there is something there, he concentrated his moondust magic on his sides, and the dust started to form what it looked like wings, the same thing he had in mind, at first they seems to be cloudy wings, but finally started to took form, even matching his coat colors, making him rise to the teacher office, the wings themselves, looked and feel so real, he touch them with one hoof, and he felt them on his mind, he felt the feathers slowly catching the wing, how the wing bones and muscles where withstanding his weight, like if he was a Pegasus all along, how can this magic be at his disposal, and yet, he can't control it by normal methods?, it just happens, if Luna was with him, she could have told him what to do, since she know more or arcane and ancient magic, once he got high enough. He used the already broken window, to enter, making the timber wolf costume to felt on the ground. The wings disappeared as they came, a beautiful but tiny "explosion ", but as harmless as a rose petal, in a matter of speaking, Stormy headache for using the moondust was rising slowly… as he checked the teacher room, in one of the drawers he found a foal drawing, again, this time, it was him, he was able to recognize himself, but twice, one had the wings and horn, and little dust around him, and the other was himself… on the floor, the dust was still around his body, but he could clearly see the red pencil, simulating blood on his sides, could this be a warning?, that the moondust is very dangerous, yet, very useful magic?, or that are part of something he don't want to know, either way, he stored it on his saddlebags, and continue searching, however, he touched with his hooves a blade on the floor, it wasn't sharp, indicating it was a prop, but it was a scythe blade, he stored it on his saddlebags and checked the circuit board, there was a switch to rise the curtains, he pulled it, and the curtains rose, revealing what it looks like, a background house?, but something was off, the house looked real, even the door had a hole to place something, like a blade, Stormy noticed that it started to rain and that for some reason, the rain felt cold, but how can rain in a closed place?, maybe the fire proof mechanism was broken?, the stairs leading to the office where also fixed, he used them to go down to ground level again, and came closer to the mysterious background on the stage, his headache was getting higher… indicating his magic exhaustion, he placed the scythe blade on the door, door of the house unlocked and Stormy entered it… it was dark, but when he used the illumination spell, he jumped filled with fear, inside the house, there where nothing but bodies, bodies of ponies, hanging out in the ceiling, in the case of the Pegasus, their wings where torn apart from their bodies, the unicorns had their horns cut off, and the earth ponies where cut in half, he tried to run, but felt something holding him, as he turned around to look, he saw the corpses holding him, he started to scream as they where dragging him back to a big pile of dead bodies, he launched a magic attack to the creatures, but it passed right through them, as he was being overwhelmed by the creatures, he felt a terrible headache… he reached his magic limit, and the moondust magic disappeared, he felt all the limbs in his body, not responding, all he could do was scream… as he felt he was about to faint... as the creatures where ripping his flesh off, and their teeth's pierced his flesh and organs, he felt if he was dying…he noticed how everything started to change, and the siren was ringing

Everything was black, he couldn't move… was he dead?, did he finally fall at the hooves of the creatures?... no… he could feel his lungs taking air… he tried opening his eyes, but he still saw darkness… he still felt tired… but then.. he heard voices… he opened his eyes, it took him a while to get adjust to the light visible on what it looks like, is the stage, he saw a lot of ghost, seeing the stage, but two ghost where on the seats, next to the exit, one was Mistshine, and the other one, himself…

"whaaa… he killed them!, brother, I want to go!, please!, he will get us " Mistshine cried, full in fear

" Bro, is just a play, is not real, nopony will ever hurt you " Young Stormy hugged his little bro

" im death! " the actor playing as death, raised his scythe and nailed it on the front right next to the older Stormy still weaken body, it was a golden scythe, with illegible words on the handle

"Sweet Celestia " Stormy said to himself

"im the one you fear on your final hours!, the one that knows your sins and condemns you to redemption if you truly desire it " The actor said

Then, the actor came closer to Stormy body on the floor, he closed his eyes, already knowing he was going to finish him, and his body was still weakened, but the actor picked up a real size pony mannequin, from the exact same place stormy was, it was decorated to simulated a dead pony, stormy gave a quick look behind him, recovering a little of his strength and he found out that the pile of " dead ponies " where nothing more that mannequins for the play, and that some of them had fallen on him, trapping him, stormy felt a great relief, finding that he is not dead, but the actor playing as death, threw the mannequin to the pile, making it fall more over the weakened stallion, until, he had only his head visible, he saw how his brother ghost ran away scared by the play.

"Sorry bro, I can stand it" Mistshine said as he ran off from the stage

"Wait, bro come back! " Young stormy said, as he ran, to catch his brother

"And that concludes our play " the teacher replied from the office

With those words, and a round of applause, all the ghost disappeared, the Scythe prop used also suffered a change, it's blade disappeared and only the handle was left, and the " house " was just a cardboard background, stormy used his hoofs to get himself out of the mannequins pile, since his magic was already in dangerously low levels, after the moondust magic usage, he took from his saddlebags the red apple and eat it. Feeling a little better, he got himself out, he noticed that the scythe, used by the actor was on the floor, but it was only the handle, the stallion mind quickly processed the information, and he took the scythe blade from the stage door and combined it with the scythe handle he found, the result, a golden scythe, the one he needed, and the one the ghost actor had, as things where getting freaky, he decided to go to the special treatment room.

Once he exited the Theatre Class though, things quickly let him know, that it will be getting into problems, the whole university looked rusted and had the floor made out of what it seems to be coat, he didn't want to think that was actual pony coat, the tree in the middle of the courtyard had the bag with his items and was still green and full of life, he quickly got to the special treatment classroom, once there, he placed the golden scythe on the door, a little click was heard and the door opened without any problems, but it was so dark that he couldn't see, he had enough magic for his light spell, so he use it, he saw something on the floor, it was his brother wrench, the room itself was empty, and the floor was very soft, like those used for mental patients on mental hospitals, how is it that his brother ended up here?, the walls had a brownish color in them, and the desk for the students where broken, only Mistshine desk was untouched, he checked it, and found something he wasn't expecting, it was a police report, and a key attached to it, it reads

"Manehatten Police Department

Case File: 9723X

Officer in Charge: Officer Keeneye

Victim: Mistshine Brave

Suspect: Stormy Brave (Primary Suspect)

Blackhorn Goldenscroll (Possible Main Suspect)

Observations: a little colt was injured in Manehatten University, his name was Mistshine Brave, there are few clues that keep taking me to a single conclusion, his attacker was his own brother, Stormy Brave, somehow, I find that really hard to believe, my captain, Silverbadge, every time I ask him, he always yell angry, and I can see he is sweating, maybe Stormy is right about his testimony?, I remember he said that the mayor Goldenscroll has all the city bought, which can explain why we have so many criminals these days, as my investigation goes, one thing I know for certain, Stormy Brave is - , I must find the truth, even if it kills me…. "

Stormy was frozen in place…. Did he really do it?, attacking his brother?, he keep telling to himself. NO, I didn't do it!, as if something really terrible happened on the university and he didn't want to remember it, he read the last part of the report, there was something added with pencil at the end, seems like a note, it was not Keeneye writing

"the sentence for his crime, is death, and I will be the executioner " that was the sentence

" this…. This has to be a bad joke!, please!, this can't be true!, is all made by a nightmare!, please!, stop!, I want to wake up!, I wan to wake up! " Stormy screamed at top of his lungs

He couldn't take it anymore, he started to cry, beating himself up on the walls, trying to wake up, but even if the pain from this actions where telling him, that this was real, his mind was no longer reacting, until he felt something on his back holding him and throwing him on the floor, what his eyes saw, what the actual monster he had been fighting since he wake up, the Plastic Mare, she tried to again, kill him, just that this time, her attacks where more slow, due to her already noticeable wounds, Stormy tried to prevent her to bit him, but she kept pushing herself down, until Stormy used a magic blast, the creature got wounded, from the creature pocket, a little object felt on the ground, that Stormy noticed, the creature on the other hoof, just got up, but no longer moved, just watched her target, the stallion, a little confused by this, picked up the object, it was a key with a lipstick handle…. Stormy looked at the monster, but it was already walking outside the room, Stormy followed, and the creature was no longer there, as if she disappeared, Stormy noticed that the hallway was reshaped to go directly to the courtyard, if he tried to go to the other sides, there was a bottomless pit waiting for him, with not other choice, he followed the path to the courtyard.

Once down there, he still noticed the lock, he used the key he got from the plastic mare, and the lock and gate opened, he entered the courtyard and again, just like in the Theater, rain started falling, as Stormy reflected about the state on the school, he noticed that without his light spell, he couldn't be able to see a thing, also, the rust and metal structures where more notorious, but seems to have a coat hanging from some of the places, but the only thing normal, was the tree. Stormy started to levitate the bag with all his items, and place them all on his saddlebags, finally, he had everything back, he immediately took the Book of Harmony out, and restored the page he found, once he stored the book, he took a look to the tree, he found a little lipstick mark, and a arrow pointing towards the gym, he remember he still have the gym key, and he ran towards that place, he noticed that Redhoof ghost was entering the building, as Stormy speeded up to catch her, he noticed a little heart on the door with offensive language, it was not easy to deduce this was written by the same unknown pony that wrote that in the last sentence of the police report, since their writings where the same

" The Bitch and the Coward, together until a poison drove them apart "

" Ok… is this somepony idea of a cruel joke? " Stormy said, as he opened the door with the gym key

Stormy entered the gym, and everything was metallic inside, but there where several lanterns giving up light, he noticed the Plastic mare, just staying there, in the middle of the room, the static from his radio started to work, but it was very low, even if he was right next to the creature, Stormy, taking his steel pipe ready, get more closer to the creature, but the monster didn't move, as if she…. Or it, was waiting for him to kill it?, either way, once he was close to her, he notices that all her already made wounds where not visible anymore, as if she was cured, the knife where removed and she didn't had her rusty pipe, the only thing that didn't change, was that her bandage on her eyes, and that her clothes are torn, but her bracelet is not longer on her right hoof, her coat was still plastic, and her mouth bandage was gone, allowing the monster to make a soft noise, similar to crying, the creature lift her face, as if she wanted to say something, Stormy raised his pipe to attack her… but the Mare didn't move, he saw this, and he didn't hit her with the pipe, " what on Equestria am I doing?, im supposed to attack this creature! " Stormy said to himself, but as he lift his face to see his opponent, he felt something warm…. The mare… was hugging him… much to the stallion surprise, as other monsters at this point would already try to kill him, as Stormy broke the warm hug the creature gave to him, the Plastic Mare let a few words, it was noticeable that since she is a monster, talking is not her strong point

"Rem….em…be…r n….o…..w? " the creature said

"Hold on…" Stormy recognized that voice, coming from the creature lips " R…Redhoof?! "

That cannot be possible!, that creature was her friend Redhoof?, the mayors daughter?, how?, Stormy´s mind was running like a 100 miles per hour, trying to figure all out, but as he let the mare go, the floor under his hoof, disappeared from all of the sudden, Stormy´s horn ended up, tearing up the Plastic Mare eye bandage, Stormy, with the bandage on his horn, tried his best to remain on the gym, he wanted answers!, he grabbed the corner from the floor, but he was losing the grip, he took another look to the Plastic mare, he noticed her eyes…. There was no doubt, they where Redhoof Eyes, those kind cyan eyes where looking at him, with a saddened look, stormy lost his focus and felt on the pit, as he screamed Redhoof name one last time, everything turned into darkness, he passed out as he felt deeper.

He slowly woke up, of what it seems to be a bed… the room was filled with Spidercolt posters and a Telescope for so he could see the stars and moon at night, his eyes where getting used to the dim light coming from a lantern on the desk, but his mind was still broken…. The monster he and Luna fought…. Was his friend, Redhoof Goldenscroll, he remembered that… after his brother incident, she was the one that give him courage to prove his innocence, even after his big sister death, he remembered her so vividly, as if she never left his side, her warm smile, and her kind embrace, even with the Deep Ambition Bracelet on, she was in total control with Stormy around her, memories from his time with her flew over his mind…. But …suddenly, he felt bad…. A pressure on his heart, why he was feeling so bad?, as if he is still forgetting something?, he got himself standing again, and jumped from the bed, he took a quick look around, and levitated a Spidercolt action figure…. It was dusty and old…. And the toys closet had no additional clothes other that a little black jacket. Also the bookshelf was missing some books

" wait….this…. this jacket was mine… when I was a little colt" Stormy reflected on what his just said " This…. This is my room "

His room, his home when his family was together… he remembered it so vividly, with tears in his eyes, he touched the Spidercolt poster he had on the wall… it was one of his favorite comic heroes, his brother liked more Storm Mare, just as he was leaving, he saw something on the bed he woke up…. He took it, it was the key to his house, but he gave that key to the princess!, could have something happened to her?, Stormy grew worried and stored the key on his saddlebags, he heard a voice behind him, as he turned around, he saw himself, as a young colt, with his little bro, playing with his toys, but he also noticed that there was a box on the closet, when the ghost where gone, the box disappeared, what could be on that box?, he exited the room, his house looked very old and musty, typical signs of non usage, but the carpet on the floor, indicating the way to the stairs, was also dirty, he tried to go to his little brother room, the door was unlocked, once inside, he notices that his brother room was filled with all kinds of mechanical parts, cables, screws and circuit boards, heck, even his bed had a led lantern, his brother, despise of being very young, he was a genius in mechanics, he remembered that his bro used to study pony anatomy, and keeps telling…

" When I grow up!, I want to help ponies with my inventions!, I know I can do it! " Mistshine voice told to the wind

" jejeje, yeah, you can do it brother, I have faith in you " Stormy voice said

Those words, did not come from the stallion mouth, they came from a memory, Stormy picked up the LED Lantern, it had more power that the normal lantern, and could save stormy from using his illumination spell so often, besides, it provided more light than a normal lantern itself looks it could be placed around the user neck, like a necklace, and had a little switch to turn it on or off, Stormy place it on his neck and turn it on, it was working well, no doubt his little bro crafted very well, he also noticed that his bro had a wing prototype and a animal translator blueprints, but the blueprints itself, had both, his cutie mark, and Fluttershy cutie mark, Stormy looked at the plans in more detail, noticing how the little device would made possible understanding all animals languages, but it was strange, Mistshine didn't know about Fluttershy, until Stormy told him about the little yellow Pegasus , when he visited Ponyville the first time.

" heh… typical coming from my little brother " Stormy smiled

He exited his brother room, he wanted to check his bis sis room, but the door was locked, strange, he went to his parents room… his parents… his mom was Goldenscroll secretary in the Town Hall, dad was a police colt down, but he retired after his wife gave birth to Stormy and Mistshine. He notice that their room was neat and clean, not matching the rest of the house, but he did notices several newspaper clips on the bed, he read one that says " Night of terror!, a mask menace is free on the streets, mayor concerned " the figure appears to be a young colt with a cyan suit… hold on…. Cyan suit?, he had seen several monsters with that suit, what could it mean?, Stormy stored that specific newspaper in his saddlebags, seeing that image send shivers down his spine, the radio started to emit static, Stormy look up to the ceiling, and there was a Ceiling Filly, but this creature was wearing the cyan suit, it jumped to attack Stormy, he saw the incoming attack and dodge it, the creature tried to use their knifes to stab him on the chest, Stormy took out his pipe and attack the creature, his pipe manage to inflict heavy damage to the monster neck and torso, didn't took much time to kill it, Stormy felt uneasy having to kill another's, but it was them or him. Once the radio stop emitting static, he exited his parent's room and checked the rest of the house, he was finding several notes along the way, attached to the walls, he found 2 notes on the hallways, they said:

" I can't keep quiet anymore, I have to talk to somepony before I go mad!, tonight I will see him one more time… my last time… I discovered what happened with _ and him…. All the pain he caused him…. And I was so blind to notice the truth… I can even look at him like I used to, I don't deserve his kindness or love, I wish I could have done something…. _ please….. Forgive me… my love "

The second note said:

" I visited Ponyville today, I saw 5 little fillies there, almost the same age than me, the first one was _, she started building a cottage to live with animals, strangely enough, she is a Pegasus, I never knew Pegasus lived on the ground, I went to talk to her but she jumped and hid behind a tree, very Shy perhaps?, there was a little white bunny with her, that kept making me faces, maybe he don't like strangers others that the _ Pegasus?, anyway, I offered my help, her cottage was finished by nightfall, she offered me to stay, but I already had a place…. _ I know, not the best option, but I will be close to my first friend in Ponyville "

He stored the notes on his saddlebags, the notes themselves are a little strange, and kind of strange, but he do remember seeing Ponyville once, and on that visit, he meet new friends, he checked the living room, the kitchen and even the backyard, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, just a couple of bandages and what it seems to be another note, this one, was in the fridge, he just read it in silence:

"I meet another pony on Ponyville today, her name _ and smells like _ and anything related to sweets, she was so happy, bouncing all over the place, I think I remember her, in one of my brother birthdays, we purchased a cake from _Corner, and this pony came to deliver it, not before turning our house, upside down, with all the decorations, streamers and games, I was really happy with her, and she instantaneously recognized me, I told her everything, and her hair seems that it " _" for a moment, she let me know she will visit me everytime she can, but when I told her where do I live, she insisted on me to move to her room in _Cube_, how could I say no?"

Again, another note narrated in first person, and with names missing, why there are those names missing?, the note had a second page, it was a song, from the paper used and the ink, it was one from the Harmony book, Stormy read it, the new song was called, Prelude of Friendship, a song that allows the user to find friends, or things related to them, even if possible, teleporting near them, also, they give them a stamina boost, seems that it only works on friends really close to the user, Stormy restored the new acquired page, back to the book, just 7 pages more, why did he feel that the book needs to be complete?, and also, what is with the notes?, is he forgetting something crucial?, he had nothing else to do in his home, Luna was not there, so he went to his house front door and used the key he gave to Luna, the door opened, and the key disappeared.

He exited his house, the road itself was leading to a single way, a single building he was able to identify even in the dense fog, It was the Manehatten Town Hall, the road was metallic, and the air was heavy, like if something is telling stormy to be prepared to what he will see, Stormy started to walk, by some reason… he didn't ran, along the way, he noticed again, notes on the walls and light poles, one note was a newspaper clip, it reads:

" Manehatten tragedy, tonight, the _ was found dead on the mayor office, along her side there was seen a _ in a _ suit, according to police chief Silverbadge, the attacker was _ the so called hero of Manehatten, near the body of the mare, there was another one, that died from suffocation, it was the mayor Goldenscroll, apparently, he first was stabbed on his chest multiple times, then suffocated with his tie, there was also next to him _ and_, currently Manehatten police Department are searching for the killer, the victim was _ and died from multiple stabs on her chest, also, she had a bandage on her mouth, preventing her from screaming, in the meantime, Manehatten elections where moved to a more sooner date, the next mayor will be chosen in 3 days "

Somehow, he was felt like if he knew what was missing, and couldn't help but to tear up a bit, there was one last note, on the Town Hall Doors, it reads

" Face the truth and come to me "

Stormy entered the town hall, the building itself was empty, no static sound or monsters near, there was a stairs leading to the mayor office, but the secretary desk was right next to him… the secretary… he came closer to the desk… and notice a very old picture, he recognized his brother and sister… also, there was a Earth Pony and a Unicorn, the unicorn was his father…the earth pony…. His mom

"Mom…. Dad….. "Stormy was already tearing up, as he remembered what happened to her mom

The ghost quickly appeared on his mother desk, Stormy was able to see her, working the best she can to make sure all was neat and tidy, he noticed his mom was pregnant… probably Mistshine was still in her womb, since he is the youngest, the Mayor Goldenscroll came, or at least his ghost, seeing him, made Stormy eyes fill with anger

" Miss Brave, you can stop now" Goldenscroll asked

"y-yes Mr Mayor… " Stormy mom stopped writing reports

"Miss Brave, due to personal reasons, I must end our professional relationship, you are no longer my secretary " Goldenscroll let the Mare know the situation

"W-what?!, but…. M-mister Goldenscroll!, you cannot fire me!, you know that I have 3 kids now!, and my husband work will not cover all 5 of us! " The Mare Panicked

" do I look like I care? " Goldenscroll replied with a angry voice "you should have thought that before getting yourself pregnant again, you mule, I bet all you are after, the money that covers your pregnancy! " Goldenscroll yelled more as he hit the mare on the Face

" aah!, Mr Mayor, why, at least give me a reason " The Mare replied, fear and sadness came from her voice

"Simple, I will not provide you with more money due to pregnancy, if you can't pay, simple, eliminate that foal " Goldenscroll said as he called the guards " Guards, take her out "

The Guards came, Stormy, filled with rage, started to shoot magic bullets at them, quickly, the wrath turned into sadness, as he noticed that the attacks didn't do a thing to the ghost, he tried to hit Goldenscroll, but his hooves passed right through him, the Mare screamed, as the guards where taking her, not considering her pregnancy…. When all the ghost disappeared, Stormy cried, cursing himself for not being able to Stop it, is a miracle that his bro did came to this world, but to a price…. His mother life…. He remembered that his father was never at home due to work, and that his big sister was taking care of both, since their mother died in child birth… she chose his brother life over hers… Stormy lift his face to look at the mayor office… he was getting his answers now!, he rushed to the mayor office and busted the door opened… just to find something horrible…

The office itself was covered in blood and ashes… the bookshelf was also burned, as if a big fire had happened there, there was something in the room however, there was a corpse of a pony, beyond recognition on the desk of the mayor, and on the mayor chair, there was another corpse…. Stormy was felling bad already, there was something on one of the corpses tails, it looked like a ribbon… wait… a ribbon?, Stormy took out the pink ribbon he found at the university and compared it with the one on the corpse…. They matched…. Only one mare he knew used that color.

" No… please…. No… Redhoof! "

Stormy yelled, and cried…. The corpse corresponded to Redhoof, his friend…. He turned around, only to see what it looked like, another set of ghosts…. But this one, felt more real, since the one that was in front of him… was Goldenscroll.

"wha…. What did you do?!, security!, where are my guards!? "Goldenscroll was really angry, due to her daughter condition

"Nopony will come… " Stormy said…. Looking at him angry "because you will share her fate…. You worthless piece of trash "

He could not believe he was telling those words, but as soon as he moved towards him, he saw something else moving towards the mayor, it was himself, he recognized himself by the tail and mane… but was wearing a Cyan Suit, with a Light Blue Crescent Moon Cutie Mark, the mayor, suffering from multiple stabs by a military knife, yelled once more for help… but nopony came, the mayor…. Just only let out a curse…

"Curse…..you….. Moonlight Strike….. I will…. Make sure my son… throws…. You in jail… " Goldenscroll was letting out his final words

"heh…" Moonlight strike just laugh and took out his mask, Stormy was behind Moonlight, so he couldn't see his face " you think? "

" n-no…. w-wha…. Why… why did you do this? " Whatever Goldenscroll saw…. Made him felt a bigger sadness

" to ensure nopony will oppose me " Moonlight said, putting the mask back on

Moonlight… Stormy remembered that he used that name, after his mother death… swearing under her grave, that he will always do the right thing, but he was seeing that same moonlight ending the mayor life, although, he deserved it…Moonlight levitated the tie from Goldenscroll and started to suffocate him, ending his life, he then put the corpse on the chair, next to Redhoof, who she was still alive, she could say anything due to the mouth bandage, Moonlight just stabbed her once more and left the knife on her chest…. She died quickly… from the stabs and bloodlost

" hmph…. All that really matters in this world is strength and power, and I will achieve both… " Moonlight said " now…. How will I dispose of you? Little foal " he said looking at stormy

Moonlight was going to attack him, Stormy by instinct blocked the attack with his pipe, and it did block it, so this was real, not a simple memory, he was fighting himself, how can this be possible?, if this is true then?…. His hooves are stained with the blood of a innocent, that trusted him, and he betrayed her?, Stormy mind was made a puzzle, trying to find a answer, meanwhile, his opponent continue to attack him, seeking one goal… end his life.


	8. Chapter 7,5 ( Luna ) - Hidden Events -

Author Note: This happens exactly at the same time that the Chapter 7 and 8 take place, so, while Stormy is on the University, and fighting on the Mayor Office, Luna is here… also, a few cameos are here, hope you like them ^^

Luna woke up….her head was ringing after she touched that monster bracelet…. The only pain she felt was from her head… her wounds where healed… she got up… just to fall from the place she was resting… it looked like a bed… with sun designs and all sorts of homebooks, like cooking, fairy tales and even a little police law… Luna, quickly searched the place….

" Stormy?, wake up!, we have to…."

Then she noticed…. Her companion was not with her, thing that got her worried… why would he leave her from all of the sudden?... but she noticed she had on her hoof the Deep Ambition Bracelet, she inspected the place…there was a photo on the desk near to the bed where Luna woke up…she noticed 2 colts…. One little one, just born, and another one like the age of 10 at most… with a black jacket… she recognized the mane stile… it was Stormy….so that means…. She is on his home, and the room must be from the only mare on the photo…

"could this be…. His mom?...no…she looks way to young for that, and she is the same size as him…. Could this be his sister? "

Luna was a sharp one… didn´t took her much to figure it out… she checked the room well, there was a old dairy, opened on the same desk… it was against her princess code to read other ponies dairies, then again… she is able to see other ponies dreams when they are asleep and they never notices… a little peak wouldn't hurt, she start reading the last entries

" We just came from mom burial… I never saw my brother so down… nothing seems to get him to smile anymore… I had a friend in Ponyville who is able to help… but Im afraid that he is only able to come to birthdays… my dad got special permission from work to be at the funeral… he talked to my bro Stormy, to encourage him… I don´t know what in the hay he told him… but whatever it was, made him inexpressive… I will talk to him later to see if I discover something…. In the meantime… I will take care of Mistshine the best that I can… these 2 are my responsibility now, and I will show my mother that I can protect him! "

The next page said

" Mistshine Birthday number 5 is today, my friend told me he would send a special cake along with somepony he trust, that will help stormy to recover his smile… he gave me a brief description, a Pink Earth Pony with balloons cutie mark… and cotton candy mane… im sure I can manage whatever Mistshine do with her… last time he almost blew up the kitchen "

" Wait…. Pink Earth Pony… balloons cutie mark…. There is only one mare that I know that has that cutie mark and ability to make other laugh " Luna reflected " It´s the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie... "

The Laughter Element…. Luna remember Nightmare Night, when she made things more difficult to her to make friends, but after Pinkie explained why… she was relieved… also, her mind started to make connections with Stormy… from what she remember from Stormy dreams, he always tried to make her smile during her exile, just like Pinkie… maybe she would have to ask Stormy for more details later… when she looked the last page… it was incomplete, and blood was on it…. Luna felt a shiver to her spine… as she read the page…

"_ had snapped, Dad defended the home, but he got killed…. Im next…. Bro…. if you read this…. i….. _, please forgive me "

The blood covered the ink, making unable to read… when Luna stepped again from the diary, she noticed a ghost corpse, with her throat cut, Luna got scared a little as she noticed that a mysterious black unicorn has in the room, and wrote something in the dairy, using the mare blood, Luna saw what it reads, it reads " you are next… kid…", all ghost disappeared and Luna noticed that the blood from the page, extended until the door, how did she not noticed that before?, the bookshelf contained tales like Robin Hoof, Equine Tales, but one book picked up the princess attention… it was a police book, containing laws and methods to investigate… so… Stormy Sister wanted to be like her father?... nothing out of the common until she got out of the room, the house itself looked burned and had ashes from the walls… when she touched with her hooves… her hoofprint was visible, there was a room that read, " Mistshine " , Stormy little bro name, Luna opened the door, and there was enough circuits to make a alarm system on the castle… she noticed a LED Lantern, but she didn't need it, she found some blueprints for several inventions… but she was unable to understand most of it… she did noticed what it seems to be a necklace, but to attach a lantern… Luna took the lantern out from the saddlebags and combine it with the necklace she found… that way, she can use the lantern without holding it on her mouth. Not much info there… she exited the room and tried Stormy room… but the door was locked, she tried a unlocking spell, but the door still didn't open, strange… she started to think that they got separated by something… or somepony?

She noticed the double doors, leading to the studio downstairs…she went to investigate… and she found several books, one of them was literally new… and even had a bookmark on it… Luna read it… it described the moon dust magic

"Moondust magic… the same one Stormy used?, I remember… that specific magic is not only magic… is a special talent hidden within a unicorn, very few are able to control it… let see… " Luna said to herself as she read the book

" In all arcane magic, there is but one special spell that is both, beautiful and dangerous to user and targets as well… it is the moondust magic, only Unicorns conceived and born under the full moon are granted this ability , but even with that requirements, they must survive their first months of the magic surges as baby unicorns, not because they are fragile, but for the moondust magic power, since the magic is powered by the moon, and in addition, their normal magic are still getting adjusted, a magic outburst as a baby would prove to be fatal, since there is no telling which of the 2 magic will be the one coming out, it is recommended to pay attention to the different moon cycles, each one could have a random effect on the foal magic, if the moondust don't manifest during this period, it will never will, and the unicorn will live as a normal pony, but if it does, and the foal survives… his or her moondust magic will be in a dormant state, and will only be awoken by 2 things… extreme psychological and physical stress, or direct influence of the moon, with this one we mean, nights of full moon, once awoken, the arcane magic will be at his disposal, sadly… the excessive use of this magic, cause several damages to the user, from just a simple headache, to cardiac arrest or even organs failures, the only way to prevent this, is with a special training given only by Princess Celestia, but since the cases of moondust users are extremely low, it has never being implemented… " the text ended

Luna started to fear what that the book mentioned, since she already knew the consequences of the moondust magic, then… if stormy has it… that mean he must be the only unicorn in modern days, to have the ability to use the moondust, a magic that she still know… a magic that she remember, during her time before Discord, King Sombra or even her Nightmare Moon transformation, that the guards from her sister and her old castle, where capable of using the moondust magic, but those guards where reserved for special cases or even for secret missions, if that was the case, that means that stormy father must have been a long time descendant from those guards, something that the book didn't mentioned, in fact, besides the full moon requirement, in order for another pony to have moondust magic, they must be a blood descendant from another moondust capable unicorn… that's why those guards where most of the time, either identical twins or whole families, she felt both happy and sad… happy for the fact that Stormy not only loved her moon, but also, he is capable enough to use the magic from the ancient guards, and sad because… despise knowing that Stormy loves her… she can't be with him from the rest of his life.. she is not able to die by old age… but stormy does….

All those memories from recent events, and the memories from her exile, made Luna realized that…each time that he protects her, even if she is capable of holding her own, the fact that he, during his dreams, was always on her side, driving away the sadness during her time as Nightmare… made her feel something special for the stallion…but… why?, after 1000 years… she promised herself she would not feel love for a mortal pony, after all, she can't die of old age… but the other can… and they will leave their side… just like Snowdrop did… that is when it reality hit her…Snowdrop was also the only one who understood her night… she was her most close friend… and when she was exiled… she still wished on the stars for her… until her depart…and Stormy was doing the same when he heard about the Nightmare Moon tale… she started to cry, as she finally understood what Noirstar the Changeling meant…Stormy loved with all his heart… and she didn't even noticed or remember him before he came to the Castle to see her sister, desperate to find help, to get rid of his nightmares… Luna had the power all the time, to help him during those desperate times… but she didn't even try to help, in fact, she forgot him completely, " What a way to repay him for helping you out Luna " she said to herself, Even when Stormy was in training… the only ponies she laid interest in, where Pipsqueak on Nightmare Night, or even Scootaloo during her nightmares… but she completely discarded the colt that practically gave himself to her, to keep her safe from her own nightmares… 4 months of suffering she ignore… 4 months that he was not able to get any sleep at all, she started to think, that she would be better if the Nightmare had completely consumed her… she got herself up…. Only a few words came from her mouth

"im sorry Stormy…. I didn't knew… im so sorry "

Stormy was now the lost one, and Luna was again, alone…she put the book back to it's place… she need it to find Stormy now, whatever this nightmare is, there is a reason for both of them being trapped, she will be there for him this time… as he has been for her… as she walked to finish her search on Stormy house, she started to think, was she only concerned about the stallion only for regret?, because she felt guilty of forgetting him? Or… was because she really like him?... that question was still not going from his mind… she checked stormy parents room, and only found everything destroyed… another diary was there… it seems to be Stormy father writing…

" I came back from work, and what do I found?, my son, Stormy, he literally blew up the studio, but he is a baby… how did he do it?... that is when I noticed a white dust from everyplace burned… this can't be, moondust magic, my great great great grandfather was a descendant of the ancient guards… but I was never able to use it, but my son can…I must take care of him more… I know he will do great things… "

Another entry read

"….. I lost my wife and daughter… thanks to some…. Murderer…. I don't care if I get fired… as soon as I find the bastard, I will make him suffer! "

Luna closed the entry and exited the house from the front door… the door was not locked, but as soon as she got out… the door locked itself…she checked her saddlebags and the key from Stormy house was gone, well… she don't need to be back there right?, she followed the alley, until she found herself back on the main street…she noticed a monster coming to her… this one was different… was a shadow, like the Armodered Shadow, but this one was clearly a Stallion… it didn't had cutie mark, or visible face… just a mouth, his face was covered of what it seems to be a bag… only one space was for the eye… it was a little yellow eye…, as for the mouth, it had like a hole, enough to make moans and screams, the pony was wearing a leather straitjacket, unable him to use his front hooves… so he was crawling towards the princess… she calmly concentrated her magic, but from the monster mouth, it spit a very corrosive acid, Luna dodge the attack, but the acid manage to burn her bandages… even the piece of raincoat that Stormy used the fist time to patch up her wing, the creature used its back hooves to jump, Luna, pissed about the piece of raincoat, attacked the creature with a magic burst, the creature felt towards its back, but got itself up pretty quickly, just to receive Noirstar sword on it's chest, the creature spit blood one more time, Luna quickly used the wooden table to defend… but it melted, it didn't protect her from the acid though, one more quick swing to the creature, was enough to kill it… she had the sword in hand… but felt her wing already healed… guess the raincoat did it's job… so she removed the bandaged on her other wing… besides the dried blood, it seems it was ok… still, she had to fly low, so she started flapping them, hovering herself from the floor, taking advantage of this, she started to search the town, but as soon as she lift herself… she felt something heavy on her back, she looked behind, it was a Ceiling filly, and it was licking its knifes before attacking the princess back, she lose altitude and couldn't keep herself airborne, so she literally crashed on a window of a building, she didn't know which building she crashed, but what she did knew, was that the creature was dizzy, she kicked him with her back hooves from the building… without Stormy´s Radio, she could not detect the monsters, neither she had a instrument to perform the songs to help herself… but she had more magic that Stormy, so, she got herself out from the room using the door, she could feel the blood, escaping her left wing… seems that fly will prove to be impossible, the building looked expensive… and very neat and tidy… she noticed several offices and documents… this could only mean 2 things, she is either on a school, or in the Town Hall. She looked at the long hallway, there was a receptionist desk… Luna could saw the photo… she could see all the Brave family, the Photo seems to have been taken in the hospital, she recognized Stormy almost instantly, the newborn foal, probably Mistshine, was in her mother arms, but her mother look reveal a tired look, almost as if, the last joy in her life… was bringing her son to this world… Luna put the frame back to the desk and continue searching the Town Hall, it was clear to her where she was in the town hall, since most of the frames are from ponies that founded the Manehatten town, she tried to go to the mayor office, but the door was damaged, she couldn't open it, it was really strange… the aspect of the place is not the twisted one… but most doors are broken, except one, the one opposite to the hallway she came in… she searched on the receptionist desk for a map, and indeed she found it, with map on hooves, she entered the opposite hallway… but just as soon as she enter, a click sounded coming from the door, meaning she was not able to go back.

" What?, im… locked?, somepony locked the door? "

Luna said, as she tried to unlock it… but quickly gave up, the door was very sturdy… she continued checking the rooms, but most of them where empty, few of them had monsters, but on those ones, she fought them with her magic instead of the sword, although in one of them, she found a couple of bandages… the room itself looked like a medical wing… Luna checked a file that was on the desk from said room

"Patient: Ms Cloverleaf Brave

Description: Abortive Pills

Top Secret, Never Disclose

Observations: Under Mayor Goldenscroll orders, Ms Brave medicine, in case of contractions, must be change to abortive pills, I still don't understand why, put in danger the life of a incoming baby, no matter what hate did he had to her… but we have to do it… it's a top priority order

PS: NEVER send this info to Canterlot Main Hospital."

" What in the name of the moon?, the mayor… tried to end Stormy´s Mom pregnancy?!, why Celestia didn't do anything?! " Luna said, very upset

Why Celestia didn't intervene?... just like her, the princess have the ability to see what happen under her sun… Luna now felt worse… not only he was ignored by her… but also for her sister… whatever happened between the mayor and Stormy´s family, was overlooked by the princess… until it was too late… she patched herself her injured wing… and continue to walk… she then entered a big hall, similar to the circular room where the Grand Galloping Gala was held on Canterlot… but this one…actually had ponies dancing there… Luna tried to talk to some of them… but they ignored her plead for information… Luna noticed that none of the ponies where reflecting on the mirrors on the sides of the room… just 2 ponies only…. She manage to recognize the colt dancer… but his clothes where different… they where a black tuxedo with a red rose in it, and still a ocarina holster on his side… it was Stormy, while his dancing partner…. Was a Earth Pony mare, with a pink ribbon on her tail… Luna noticed she was way to similar to the monster she encountered with Stormy on the mall… she was wearing a beautiful red dress with pink diamonds everywhere… but the thing that got Luna concerned, was the Deep Ambition Bracelet on the Mare hoof, she came quickly to the 2 dancing ponies… just to noticed, that they where both ghost… she couldn't take her eyes out of the red mare… was she feeling jealous?, that cant be, a princess do not know jealousy… but…. Luna was not the case… since after all…. Jealousy did play a part in her transformation… the mare constantly tried to kiss Stormy… but by some reason, she hesitated… as if she wanted to say something important…. As she approached more… she heard a breaking sound, it was the floor, she hovered, even if her wing was injured, to prevent falling to the hole that just opened below her hooves, at that moment…. All ghost including the mare and stormy, disappeared… she exanimate the hole left on the ground, a faint breeze was coming from it… like if there was something there… there was no other way out of the hall, since the door was also locked… she took a deep breath and risk herself, jumping to the hole, with her wings spread to lower the descent…

Even with the Lantern on, she was not able to see beyond her horn… but after a short moment, she landed on what it seems to be, a storage room, she noticed that on the desk, they where several bandages and energy drinks, also, there was a Zap Apple Pie, the rainbow colored pie was surprisingly in good conditions to eat… it was enough for only 2 ponies though… so Luna… feeling hungry from all her travel so far… ate a slice… leaving the other one on the box…, her stomach took the sweet dessert into it, and Luna felt herself full… on top of that, she could felt her magic recovering or even extending it's limit, she exited through a door, and she noticed a large hallway… several pictures and Newspaper clips where attached to the walls, most of them, about Manehatten History, such as the Statue of Friendship creation, they first meeting with the Princesses, and even the founding on Manehatten University, the best one in Equestria… but also… there was one that told about a hero, of the moon, Luna, interested, read the newspapers, and dates… seems that after the Goldenscroll election, and the rise in criminal rate… a hero decided to put a end, his name was Moonlight Strike… and according to the newspaper clip, he a strange magic that simulates web attacks, like the fictional character, Spider-colt, just that in this case… when the web remains was touched, they disappeared into moondust, hence the name, Moonlight Strike… as soon as Luna read the dust part, she was sure about the hero identity, since the moondust had that peculiarity, that after usage, it leaves a beautiful display of the moonlight while it disappeared into the wind as white colored dust, but… that means Stormy, without knowing it… he was using his moondust magic… she touched the frame, which hold that specific information… but as soon as she did that… all her surrounding change and she felt a very strong light coming from the newspaper… almost as if she… was getting pulled into the newspaper… when the light subsided, she was seeing 2 colts… Stormy was the older one. Next to him, was his little brother… Mistshine… both of them had black clothes… indicating that they just came from a funeral, Luna saw, silently as they said something…

"Brother… what we are going to do now?... we lost dad and know our sister… we are alone… " Mistshine said, very sad with tears in his eyes

"We are not alone…we have each other…but…we won't leave the town like this… with dad gone… we have to do our part… " Stormy said, taking out a cyan suit his sister made for him

"what are you going to do? " his brother said… looking at him a little confused…

"im going to change this town… even if I have to do it by force!, nopony else will die again! " Young Stormy said, as he put the cyan suit

A strong light again blinded the princess for a moment, this time, she was greeted by a cold rain… next to her… was Stormy… already dressed up as the Moonlight Strike from the article…his face was all covered and his white " eyes " on the mask prevented to see his expression, but it was more than clear that he was preparing a heist… 2 thieves already stole a store

"Stormy? " Luna's hoof passed right thought him, as he receive a message

"Brother?... is this on?" his little brother voice came from a comunicator on Stormy left ear

"Yeah bro… this works perfectly…" Stormy or… Moonlight in this case, replied

" the thieves are moving to the alley, stop them" Mistshine ordered

" yes… little bro " Stormy said

The stallion then jumped from the building, Luna, knowing that he can't fly, tried to follow him, that's when she noticed… Stormy extended his hoof and his horn glowed, making a magic rope, that attached to the buildings, the rope itself… contained moondust… simulating perfectly, spider-colt web, that is when Luna, felt everything fading to black, she woke up… again on the hallway… could that be one of the lost memories from his guard?, if yes…why Stormy kept it so secret?, she walked towards of what it seems, in the end of the hallway, a door with a red carpet, the door reads " for Mayors usage only " near the door… there was a pony corpse… it had police uniform… but Luna was not able to recognize who he was… above him, there was another newspaper clip… but this one… was not a happy one… it reads…

"Manehatten tragedy, tonight, the daughter of the mayor was found dead on the mayor office, along her side there was seen a white coat Colt in a Cyan suit, according to police chief Silverbadge, the attacker was Moonlight Strike, the so called hero of Manehatten, near the body of the mare, there was another one, that died from suffocation, it was the mayor Goldenscroll, apparently, he first was stabbed on his chest multiple times, then suffocated with his tie, there was also next to him a bloodstained knife and a bag full of bits, currently Manehatten police Department are searching for the killer, the victim was Redhoof Goldenscroll and died from multiple stabs on her chest, also, she had a bandage on her mouth, preventing her from screaming, in the meantime, Manehatten elections where moved to a more sooner date, the next mayor will be chosen in 3 days "

She felt a cold wing on her spine… Stormy… killed Redhoof?... that can't be!, he was the most kind and strong pony she ever met, she knew he don't have the heart to kill another pony… these monsters are the exception… she walked away from that newspaper clip… and entered the door, once she passed it, the door closed itself with a electronic lock… Luna noticed that she was in a Train… a big train reserved only for the mayors visits, seems that the train according to the big screen on the entrance, is connected to Ponyville and Canterlot, she choose Ponyville… since in Canterlot, there was nothing else they could make, and if Stormy already went ahead of her, he would have gone there… the Train started to move by itself… she stayed there… she was going to Ponyville…

A short while passed… and the lights on the train started to blink… Luna turned on her lantern, and notices a colt, holding another pony closer, his clothes where bloodstained, and the little pony was very injured… Luna came closer to the colt… she noticed her Cyan Suit… and when he turned around, his mask was torn in half, making Luna notices who he was… was little Stormy…

"Who is there? " Young Stormy said

"Luna…" the princess replied " What happened? "

"My brother… he was attacked!, I must get to Canterlot Hospital! " Young Stormy voice sounded worried

" im going to Ponyville… " Luna said… a little coldly… perhaps still doubting about Stormy, due to the Redhoof and Mayor Murder

"P-please!, I beg you! " Young Stormy started to cry as he hugged the Princess " My brother will die if I don't help him!, is my only family! "

Luna felt angry… Stormy killed those ponies, and yet, he was asking for help… he felt, on her heart that Stormy was innocent… but the newspaper clip she saw… nopony else could be besides Stormy…but… was it really true?, is that blood on his suit, Redhoof blood?, or his brother blood?, either case… it was visible that the damages on Mistshine body was from a sharp blade, and Stormy wasn't carrying anything, she could end the young colt life there.. in fact, she felt hate crawling on her spine… and her horn glowed , as if she was about to shoot a magic attack…but wait… the was not only hate building up… but also jealousy, from Redhoof herself… was she actually even considering this?, she was actually thinking of attack the younger version of his guard…that would be the second biggest mistake in her life… she could feel on her soul that little voice telling her " kill him ", but Luna… remembering the recent events…she smiled…if Stormy forget her, about everything, why she wouldn't do the same?, she let Stormy know that she will protect him, until Ponyville stop, her horn stopped glowing, Stormy smiled when the Look on the princess, changed to a smile and gently voice, that is when all light has gone out….

"L-Luna?" Young Stormy said

"Don´t worry….guard" Luna said, in a more charming and calm voice

"…" Young Stormy didn't said anything, just smiled…

On the other side of the train… a hoofstep was heard, Luna shinned her lantern to where the sound came… a sword was visible… and a black robe… skeletal features… it was the Skeletal Mare that stole Stormy´s Sword, Luna made a Shield around Young Stormy and Mistshine and ran towards her foe, the creature, just stood there… as if she was waiting something, Luna let a magic blast came and hit the creature, which passed right through it,

" you will never came near him, you hear? " Luna said, to the creature

"….. foo….lish… pony….. " The Skeletal mare said.

The mare attacked Luna, Stormy sword almost cut her throat, but Luna wasn't her target, it was Stormy " ghost ", the Barrier could hold 3 powerful blows at much, the creature attacked the barrier, making it crack like a window against a tiny boulder, Luna attacked the creature again, this time, using her steel pipe, a sword won't be much use against it… she let a strong hit on the creature hooves, it's bones cracked a little, dropping stormy sword, inside the circle, Stormy was shielding his brother, as if he preferred to be killed before his bro, the creature, ignoring luna again, and send on its task, tried to step on the shield with her hooves, Luna, tired of her foe, let a powerful magic blast… but this one, was more powerful, the Skeletal mare was stuck on the wall

" If you touch that colt, I will Personally Kill you!" Luna shouted angry…

"…..you….forgive….him?... " The skeletal mare said

" huh? " Luna was confused at the creature words

" …..g…..oo…d" The Skeletal mare said

The creature simply disappeared… and appeared behind Luna, the princess using her agility, dodged the attack and used Stormy sword on the creature, it didn't do much damage, but manage to repel her, the Sword however, got stuck on the mare ribs, What was the reason the Skeletal Mare was following Stormy?, she will get those answers now, she jumped to her foe and used a magic bubble on it, starting to make it smaller and smaller, until the creature ribs and bones started to crack, Luna then launched the bubble outside the train. Stormy was looking at Luna… and smiled… the train itself let a message.

" We have arrived at Ponyville Town Hall, Please make sure you have all your belongings at all times "

"Thanks…. Princess " Stormy said as he hold Mistshine

" No problem…." Luna smiled again

The automatic doors opened, leaving Luna in another hallway… as soon as she stepped out… the door and train closed….the train itself moved…probably towards Canterlot Castle…Luna walked, the hallway itself was too short compared to the Manehatten one… there was a single elevator that opened… as if it was expecting her… Luna stepped inside, The elevator was really old, but operative… once she got to her destination… she noticed the Town Hall doors, she stepped up, just to find that she was below the balcony, where she first came to Ponyville as Nightmare Moon.

The elevator automatically went down… leaving Luna on the Town hall…alone… a soft noise was heard from the basement…seems that somepony else was using the elevator….


End file.
